COLE'S WAR 



IGNORANCE AND DECEIT. 



AND 



HIS LECTURE t)N EDUCATION, 



DELIVERED IN THE ST. CYPRIAN CHURCH, TUESDAY 
EVENING, AUGUST IL 1857- 



■ Tt is impossible to make people understand tlieir Ignorance, for it . "nuires Knowledge 

to perceiva it ; and, thereftifre, h(> tiiat c;\n perceive, liath it not.* — Bishop Taylob; 

• -Men lovo Darliness ratlier tlian Liglit, bccanse their deeds are evil." — Jesus Chbibt. 

• Iio men light a candle and put it under a bushel ? " — IniD. 

• Ignorance will not be convinced ; Prejudice kuowa no bounds." — Peter Cole. 

■ Uosidos,! have found that these political, onouymous attackers, have such a fertile in- 

genuity in the coining of falsehoods, that they can manufacture half a dozen Ilea 
whilst I am correcting one of them." — Col. Weller. 



SAN. FRANCISCO: 

PRINTEP EY J. H. CDKLL & R .P. LOCKE, 79 FRONI STREET. 

1857. 



# • 



-y 8t 



COLE'S WAR 



WITH 



IGIORAl^CE km DECEIT. 



A17D 



HIS LECTURE ON EDUCATION, 



DELIVERED IN THE ST. CYPRIAN CHURCH, TUESDx\Y 
EVENING, AUGUST 11, 1857. 



"It is impossible to make people understand their Ignorance, for it requires Knowledge 
to perceive it; and, therefore, he that can perceive, hath it not." — Bishop Taylor; 

*' Men love Darkness rather than Light, because their deeds are evil." — Jesds Christ. 

" Do men light a candle and put it under a bushel ? " — Ibid, 

"Ignorance will not be convinced; Prejudice knows no bounds." — Peter Cole. 

" Besides, I have found that these political, anonymous attackers, have such a fertile in- 
genuity in the coining of falsehoods, that they can manufacture half a dozen lies 
whilst I am correcting one of them." — Col, Wblleb, 



SAN FRANCISCO : 
PRDTTEr BT I. H. UDELL & R .P. LOCKE, 79 FRON* STREET. 

1857. 






547 



Editorial. 

I must apologize to my kind friends who subscribed for this worlc. I 
am very sorry to say that I have been unable to comply with my prom- 
ise in regard to sending your copies Aug. 24th, as I have had great dif- 
ficulty in obtaining the necessary funds to pay the printer's bills. I 
never needed a friend until I attempted these pages ; I sought him, but 
he was nowhere to be found. 

But here it is, at last ; and, in print. I return my sincere thanks to 
the people of Sacramento, in particular, for their bounty extended to 
me. That God may bless you all in that happy valley land, is the 
humble and heartfelt prayer of 

Your most humble and 

Obedient Servant, 

PETER COLE. 



PART FIRST. 



To the Colored 3Icn of California. 



Fellow Citizens : — The time is drawing near wlien you will assem- 
ble in Convention, by delegation, in tlie Queen City of the West. In a 
few weeks you will be summoned from the airy heights and shadowy 
depths of every mountain and valley in the State, and every plain, 
where the yeoman's tread has marked the dust. Your summons will 
be more soul-stirring than the bugle-peal of the warrior host ! It comes 
as the voice of Justice struggling with her balance in the dust. It is 
the voice of outraged humanity — the voice of mankind — appealing 
to Heaven and earth for help against the unmitigated wrongs of 
despotism. 

Fellow Citizens — Should our Convention be favored with a selection, 
generally, of the true friends of religion, morality, intelligence, indus- 
try, and enterprise, assembling to promote the common interest of our 
whole people, then, indeed, will we have the fullest assurance of the 
happiest results from our Convention. Then may we expect a cement- 
ing of our people's minds and hearts, (which have been too much 
divided during the past year on our common cause,) then may we look 
for a concentration of effort and action, possessing omnipotence. 

Let us look well to the unity of our people. To effect which, respect 
must be shown to religion and morality ; respect must be shown to in- 
telligence, though it may not be sanctified by religion. Respect must 
DO shown to the industrious and enterprising among our people, though 
ttey be not favoi*ed with any or much education. The right of honest 
(pinion must also be respected among us. 

Fellow men : The wisdom and experience of ages have made axiom- 
ntical, that the Christian religion and morality, intelligence, industry, 
enterprise, freedom of speech and of the- press, are the great battle-axes 
!3i warring against tyranny : those principles give an irresistible po- 
'-eacy to the most feeble and oppressed people, in their grapple with 
despotic rule. Vain will be our efforts, except we are unit ed in our 
movements ; our enemies will laugh us to scorn in our struggle against 
ths mighty — (few and feeble as we are) — every onset of our dissevered 
lanks and fragmentary elements will be repulsed with redoubled confu- 



sion and dismay, and the more difficult renewed effort to meet the foe, 
until hope perishes amid the clamor of our successful emissaries. For 
the fuller assurance of unity and harmony, in our ranks, let us endeavor 
to banish from our movements all chicanery and party pandering, which 
are ever characteristic of foul motives in preference to good aims ; these 
principles serve no ends but disunion, discord and confusion. Open 
manliness should deport pv;blic reformers. 

Fellow men : Much is to be done at the coming convention for the 
advancement of our common cause, or the promotion of the means by 
whicn. we are to meet the ills which beset us. The means are already 
stated, upon which solely depends our successful resistance to the inva- 
sion of our most sacred rights. We want the most judicious measures 
adopted, so as to create a proper interest among us. Measures to in- 
sure the perpetuity of a public Press, to be the exponent of the com- 
mon interests of the whole people. Let the people in their delegating 
men to our Convention, send men that will care for these great inter- 
ests, that they may act strictly in view of their promotion. 

J. J. MOORE. 



|^° In the Slave States, for about every eighteen white persons, 
there is one person of corrupt (mulatto) blood. In the Free. States, for 
about 237 Avhite persons, there is one of corrupt blood. Which are the 
practical amalgamationists ? 

Wealthy Coloked Peofle. — Prof. Monroe calculates that there 
are 30,000 colored people, in Ohio, and that they have $6,000,000 
worth of property, on which they pay, annually, $60,000 taxes. 



THE VOICE OF THE COLORED MAN. 

Hear, O, ye of the mountains ! hear and answer, young and old ! Ye 
of the cities, towns, villages and hamlets, wherever ye be ! hear, and 
to the rescue! Come I come 1 Up, up ! ye that have for one eternal age 
slept 1 Aye, slumbered, undisturbedly, for the last thirty years, while 
Freedom's cannon, with peal after peal, loud- thundering, has struck 
upon your ear in vain. 

Awake, arise I I say, and to the rescue of your rights ! Come, are 
ye suffering, groaning, overburdened Freemen ? Is this, or is this not 
the land of your birth ? Are ye men ? Girt well your loins ! Put 
on your armor, not of hope, but of determination to make the right 
a people's might. Come, cap-a-pie, with shield and buckler, fit for a 
fray ; defy the enemy's envenomed darts which would pierce the hearts 
of those who would assert your rights ! 

In one thick, mighty phalanx come ; for we are here, a terrible host, 
ready, willing, eager to do battle, such as ne'er was seen, 'gainst the op- 
pressor. We must teach him that the battle is not always to the 
strong. The Rights of the Negro, or War ! We must, we will have 
it ! Not another century shall catch us slumbering. Say ye not so : 



" Where there's a will there's a way." Here, in this Western World, 
let the work begin. Here let the tyrant tremble, fall and bite his 
mother, Earth, with fear ! In the East, in the West, in the North, in 
the South — wherever he be — upon this sunny Indian soil, robbed from 
its rightful owners by his unjust hand, — tilled by the reeking sweat of 
Ethiopia's wronged children. Let him beware, for our destiny is 
WITH us ! The blood, the wrongs, the rights of our sires, all cry for 
revenge. 

Think, two hundred years, and no redress ! Speak ye, who guide 
this Press ! Speak ! for the burden that you bear is fraught with effect 
to our long injured race ; and, O, ye of the seed of Afric's once historic 
land, to ye again I say, come out ! aye, from within the very steeps of 
this long-perjured land. Come, clamor for your rights till the very 
heavens ache with your echoing cry — till God, in mercy, asks for pity 
to the slave, freedom to those who should be free, and justice to our 
oppres."5ed race. 

We know the oppressor's race is nearly run. Shall we then pander 
to his flillen hopes, his base desires, the wily wishes of him who spurns 
us from him to spit upon us and enwrap us in wreaths of chains — he 
who makes us baser than even himself? No! for if there is one germ 
of the love of liberty in your bosoms — if there is any sympathy in you 
for those whose blood has enriched the soil of these United States, and 
whose sufferings are the miracles of history — if there is one last ray of. 
kindly ho^^e in your manly bosoms — one hope that you may be ameli- 
orated by your own efforts. For humanity's sake, for God's, for the 
world's, come, and show to Christendom that the work is begun. Come, 
that the earth may rejoice — that the nations may see that, the negro is 
reclaimed — that we are men, who have stout hearts, aye, and willing 
hands, and reason to defend the cause of Freedom, Justice, Truth 
and Religion. 

Then come, let us say we want the Eight of Oath : 

Come, and with one voice, let us denounce the Fugitive Slave Law, 
as a base emanation from the devil's brain, an immoral constitution of 
the ever-increasing Slave States : 

That we are not men is vetoed by France : 

That we should not be Slaves is asserted by England : 

That we respect, maintain, and endorse our name, the United States 
shall declare. 

Then, come one, come all ! and let us, for once, sway high in air our 
Banner of Unity and Brotherly Love ! and may the 13th of October, 
1857j be the grand starting point in the new epoch of our history. 

Retepo Seloco. 



SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY COLORED CONVENTION. 

Agreeably to previous notice, the colored citizens of San Francisco 
met (Aug. 4th, 1857) at Zion Church, Pacific street, for the purpose of 
responding to the call of the State Executive Committee, in relation to 
the State Convention, to take place in this city, Oct, 13th, 1857, and 
also for the purpose of hearing the Farewell Address of William H. 



Newby, Esq., the recently appointed Secretary to M. Patrice Dillon^, 
Consul General of France for the West India Islands. 

The meeting "svas organized by appointing Peter Anderson, Esq. ^ 
President, and Peter Cole, Secretary. 

After a few appropriate remarks by the President, Mr. W. Brown 
moved that the call of the Convention be read — which motion was sec- 
onded and carried. 

Mr. E. Cain movecl that a committee of fifteen be appointed to nom- 
inate delegates to the State Convention, and to report said delegates to 
the people on the 15th Sept., 1857. Seconded and carried. 

Mr. Charles H. Wood ofiered an amendment to said motion, viz. ; 
that the Chair appoint said committee. — Carried. 

The Chair appointed Messrs. C. H. Wood, E. Cain, W. Brown, W. 
F. Keeling, J. Marshall, J. P. Dyer, J. F. Miller, H, M. Collins, T. P, 
Freeman, J. P. Scott, D. W. Euggles, Tiiomas Taylor, W. H. Harper, 
Charles Smith. 

The Convention then called upon William H. Newby, Esq., who rose, 
and in a most eloquent and masterly address, thanked the people of the 
State and of this city in particular, for their kindness and friendship ex- 
tended to him during his pioneer sojourn among them. 

Messrs. M. W. Gibbs and H. M. Collins then introduced to the con- 
vention Messrs. Hyer and Brown, delegated by the colored citizens ol 
Stockton to present the testimonial of their love, esteem and respect to 
W. H. Newby, Esq., vdz. : a beautiful, exquisitely flowered silver gob- 
let, with the name of the recipient engraved without. Mr. Hyer, on 
presentation, expressed the feelings and sentiments of the people of 
Stockton towards W. H. Newby, Esq., in the most glowing and forci- 
ble terms. Mr. Newby responded in his usual happy manner — receiv- 
ing the thanks of the delegates and the applause of the Convention. 

Mr. H. M. Collins moved that the thanks of the people of San Fran- 
cisco, in behalf of W. H. Newby, Esq., be tendered to the delegates 
from Stockton. — Seconded and carried unanimously. 

Messrs. W. D. Moses and H. F. Sampson then presented to Mr. 
Newby a splendid gold pen, with an elaborately-worked horse's head 
projecting from the holder. Mr. Moses addressed him ia behalf of the 
Convention and of his (Mr. Newby's)' friends, and concluded with the 
remarks : "This pen, though small in its intrinsic value as a gift, would 
be great in the hand of him who received it. That it might be the first 
to write us the soul-stirring tidings of the freedom of the slave, was his 
most earnest hope ; that it might still defend the cause of 700,000 down- 
trodden freemen in these United and free States, was his most zealous 
desire ; and that the horse, emblematical of swiftness, would cause the 
receiver of the token of esteem to urge on our cause, is the happy 
hope of his dearest friends — the ardent desire of the slave." 

Mr. Newby again rose, and, in a few affecting words^ re-thanked his 
friends. In this last effort, his manly feeling, big Avith grateful acknowl- 
edgment for their kindness, burst forth, and caused him to appear a 
Douglas rather than himself. The plaudits of the assembly assured him 
of their appreciation of his talents, and of their kindly feelings 
towards him. 



The following resolutions were then offered by Mr. M. W. Gibbs, and 
unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, We, the (colored) people of the county of San Francisco, 
in the State of California, in Convention assembled, knowing that Wm. 
H. Newby, Esq., late co-editor of the " Mirror of the Times," and so 
long intimately identified with us, intends leaving to-mori'ow for Hayti, 
San Domingo, to fill the official station tendered him by M. Patrice 
Dillon, French Consular General in the West Indies, we gladly em- 
brace this occasion to give the following expression of our feelings and 
sentiments appertaining thereto : therefore — 

Resolved, That in Wm. H. Newby, Esq., we recognize an intellect- 
ual man, a high-toned gentleman, and a true-hearted friend, and that, go 
where he may, his talents as a scholar, his suavity and affability as a 
gentleman, his warm and generous heart-promptings as a man, will 
make their mark in any community in which he may sojourn. 

Resolved, That, with him, our cause, cither as heralded through the 
*' Mirror of the Times," in whose columns he was wont to pour those 
gems of living thought and words that burn, or in earnest and eloquent 
declamation of its principles from the forum, will lose a man of marked 
ability, imswerving devotedness, dignity and manliness. 

Resolved, That our regret for his departure is only equalled by the 
pleasure we experience in the fact of his having been called to fill an 
honorable position, and act no mean part on the theatre of one of the 
most prominent empires of the world. 

Resolved, That we hereby tender him our sincere wishes for his suc- 
cess, in the new relation he is about to assume, and extend it in no com- 
mon acceptation of the term, but as a free-will offering from those who 
know, but to admire and esteem him. 

The spontaneous welling-up of souls, who, with him, in the great 
work of advancement, had but a single thought — the echoes and thrill- 
ings of hearts that beat responsive to his own, in all that makes for the 
good of our down-trodden and much-abused race. Take, then, their 
solicitude that you may receive Heaven's choicest blessings ; that your 
aims may be laudable, and your aspirations high ; always remembering 
that, in " the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves for bright manhood, 
there is no such word as fail." 

The resolutions were responded to by the Rev. J. J. Moore, Messrs. 
D. W. Ruggles, W. F. Keeling, W. H. Yates and others. 

By permission, Mr. M. W. Gibbs proceeded to read the article pub- 
Jished in the " Morning Call," of Aug. 4th, touching the departure of 
W. II. Newby, Esq. 

On motion, a copy of the proceedings of the convention were ordered 
sent to one or more of the San Francisco daily papers, and that the 
same be published at the expense of the convention. 

On motion, the Convention adjourned. 

Peter Anderson, President. 
P. Cole, Secretary. 



THE HORNET'S NEST. 



Eighty Dollars to fatten Mr. departure. 

What? 

Fifty pesos fueries ; for Mr. B's speech. 

Go it Miners, the Magician is after you ! 

The good old golden age has again returned. 

Why did you not publish the correspondence sent you, touching Mr. 
Chas. H. Wood's resignation ; that the people of San Francisco might 
know that Westward F. Keeling, Esq. was appointed in his place, as 
Chairman of the San Francisco County Colored Convention ? Was it 
not handed in to you on Tuesday, Aug. 25th, giving you plenty of 
time to get it to press ? Don't you sanction it? 

Why did a certain gentleman deny the call to the Convention on the 
evening of Aug. 4th, 1857; and try to baffle the organization of the 
Meeting, giving a certain person time to arrive from Sacramento ? — 
How nicely he was defeated ? 

Look out ! fellow citizens ; there are three tickets, one for the welfare 
of the people, (the writer goes all, on this,) the other for the aid of the 
pockets of last year's victorious Amigos, and the other, for this year's 
repetition of the past year's abuses. I go for a new Executive ; what 
do you say ? I go for a local board, and then, we can see where the 
money goes to, that comes down from the mountains. How say you ? 
Let us have a local board, and then every body in San Francisco inter- 
ested in the cause will accede to Mr. Hall's proposition. 

The following notice should have been published in the Mirror of 
the limes, Aug. 29th : (What a shame ! some have all the chances; 
others none. Whose paper is the Mirror}) 

NOTICE. 



To the Nominating Committee for delegates to the State Conven- 
tion, and to the citizens of San Francisco, generally. 

The resignation of Mr. Chas. H. Wood, as Chairman of the above 
Committee, having been officially tendered to me, I have this day ac- 
cepted it, and exercised the power vested by the County Convention 
assembled, in its President ; by virtue of which I have this day ap- 
pointed W. F. Keeling, Esq. as Chairman of the Nominating Commit- 
tee 

(Signed) Petek Andekson, Pres't 

of the County Convention, (San Francisco, Aug. 22d, 1857.) 

N. B. There will be no meeting of the County Convention until 
Tuesday September 15th, at which time the committee is expected to 
report a list of delegates, and the convention will then close its la- 
bors. 

Attest Petek Cole, Sect'y. 

San Francisco, Aug. 22d, 1857. 



9 

Mr. Chas. H. Wood's Resignation. 



"San Francisco, Aug. 21st '57. 
Sir : — I hereby tender you my resignation as Chairman of the Com- 
mittee appointed to nominate delegates to the State Convention. 

Yours, Charles H. Wood." 

To Peter Anderson, President of the County Convention. 

Commission. 

Westward F. Keeling, Esq. 

Sir : — Official information having 
been given me by Mr. Chas. H. Wood, tendering his resignation as 
Chairman of the Nominating Committee, by virtue of the authority 
given me by the County Convention assembled, I newly appoint said 
W. F. Keeling, Esq., as Chairman of the Committee to nominate dele- 
gates for the State Convention, to be held in the city of San Francisco, 
Oct. 13th, 1857. This Committee being subject to a majority of said 
Nominating Committee. Signed Peter Anderson, Pres't 

of the County Convention, S. F. August 22d, 1857. 

Wood's Return as Chaieman. 



Wood's return to his position as Chairman of the Nominating 
Committee was by solicitation, he having resigned, Aug. 22, and Mr. 
W. r. Keeling having been accepted as Chairman, said Chas. H. 
Wod-took no part in the nomination of Delegates. 

ITEMS. 



The Executive power must be worth something, or there would nev- 
er be in contemplation so fierce a struggle for it. Fools think, some- 
times ! 

A White Hornet 



" The Criminal Harvest. — The ingathered crop of yesterday's 
offenders reached the number of sixteen souls and three-quarters — the 
fraction consisting of a Kanaka, a greaser and a negro. The charges 
against these erring brothers — of sisters there were none — were as di- 
verse in kind as the accused were variegated in hue. To two of the 
number was imputed inebriety ; to a third the like, with the term dis- 
orderly superadded to malicious mischief; 2 assault and battery ; 2 
affray ; 1 grand larceny ; 1 burglary ; 1 guilty of having no place to 
sleep, and 2 not able to take care of themselves. Four names were on 
the register of persons from the far-off county of Siskiyou, bound for 
San Quentin, being of that transient class who, tarrying but for a 
night, ' come like shadows, so depart," — Town Talk, Aug. 22d, 1857. 



10 

Where was fhe Mirror ? 

" Cole's Lecture on Comets was very poorly attended on Wednesday 
evening. We believe that Mr. C. could employ his time much better 
in lecturing on some subject that he knows something about, as we 
are not very green in San Francisco. (See Mirror of the Times 
May 30th, 1857.) 

" An Article Headed the Voice oe the Coloked Max. — We 
hope in future the writer will try in his communications to confine him- 
self to the good old common-sense view of subjects, and it Avill be 
much more to his credit, as well as ours. Ed. Mirrok." 

(See " Job's Pocket" for the article No. 2.) 

QUERIES. 



What is the object of the Convention ? What are the Delegates to 
do ? Are we to be elevated or degraded ? 

I hope that the Executive Committee will inform us how much mon- 
ey passed through their hands during the past year. ' How much it 
has cost to support the Mirror of the Times, during the past 10 
months ? 

Also, I think they may be able to tell us whether they have done all 
in their power towards carrying out the third and fourth resolutions 
as set forth in the third day's proceedings, morning session, Dec. 11th, 
1856? 

I hope every man interested in his own welfare, and about his own 
pocket, will urge the question, and with a copy of the proceedings of 
last year's convention in his hand, (Page 23) look at it, and see how it 
stares him in the face. What glorious large print and fine resolutions, 
minus the effect ! ! ! 

Don't shove the Education Question out of sight, this year. With- 
out knowledge we shall always be fools, — but just as soon as we knoAV 
how Jacobs does his Hie Hoc we can presto him ! 

JOB'S POCKET. 



"The Voice of the Colored Man. 
• For the last thirty years th-ere has been a continued hue and cry 
about slavery and its evils — of its being a sin, an injustice to man, and 
a disrespect of the Divine Will. 

The voice of the philanthropist has been heard in the pulpit ; in 
the halls of State ; within the very portals of the Capitol, where, up- 
on its walls are stamped, " all men are born free and equal," streams 
of denunciatory eloquence against it have been poured forth from some 
of the most renowned statesmen of the present age and of this clime. 

Volume upon volume has been sent forth in the wide world. The 
pen of the ablest men of modern times has been employed to depict 
the horrors — to prevent, and, if possible, to suppress this self-evident, 
superheinous crime. 



11 

But wliat has tliese efforts accomplished ? It appears that they tend 
but to Infinitely harden the stony hearts of the heartless South. 

The great good men who have labored diligently in behalf of the 
oppressed ; those who have risked fame, fortune, and the many com- 
forts of a happy home — all to aid the oppressed negro, Afric's weary 
son ; friends, you have yet to learn the character of our common ene- 
my — the South. 

Is it reason to suppose that and good can or will be effected by rea- 
soning with it ? Let us cease trying to talk the bondman free. Pha- 
raoh yet sitteth upon his throne, and God must again interpose his 
mighty hand. 

Who dares say that there is even an idea of Christianity in this sec- 
ond Egypt? Who is so bold as to say that there is one spark of hu- 
manity in the soul of a slaveholder ? He who sends his children forth 
in flocks like cattle — the very issue of his loins — his sced---that they 
may be sold for dollars and cents. Who dares say that there is one 
single slaveholder in the whole length and breadth of the land that 
fears the devil, or respects the Constitution of these United States ? 

But let us cease to clamor; Slavery is his idol, Juggernaut. He and 
it are inseparable. Without it he cannot live, — not an hour, not 
a moment. Take away his slaves, and you make him the most unhap- 
jjy of all the created beings. 

Remove the lash from his sight — give him not the opportunity to de- 
face God's image, and he will water the earth with tears of gall and 
bitterness for his loss. Yes, let the groans of suffering humanity cease 
to grate upon his ear, and the sweet music of his nightly dreams will 
be forever lost to him. 

Rather than give up his right to his unrighteous, sinful, unmanly, 
and ill-gotten gain, he is willing to lose his soul: he will stop at 
nothing. He would, could he climb up to heaven and take it by storm, 
hurl the Supreme Being from the throne, and with the sceptre of his 
Maker's power, sway the whole Universe; and with the chains of a 
South Carolina or Georgia plantation, bind the arch-angels with all the 
heavenly host, and bring them captive from above, to hue and dig his 
bloody soil. 

Then why reason with him ? That he is in every respect worse than 
an infidel, is plain. That he has no part in our God, we know, lest he 
repent suddenly. That the devil will gather him into his garner un- 
less he turn from his evil way, is a universal fact. 

Retepo Seloco." 

(No. 2.) 
This is the 19th century, and America is at the zenith of her glory, 
Proud, wealthy, wise, self-satisfied, she believes herself second to none. 
Let her beware — let her remember Babylon the Great — let her think 
of Rome the jjroud. Might with her is right. Four million slaves 
upon her free soil, chained, welter in their blood, and the colored free- 
man has not where to place his foot. The voice of Africa's much- 
wronged sons has risen to the very portals of the skies. God hears, 
and stays his wrath, but that she may turn from her evil way, and 



12 

give back four-fold in recompense for her unrighteous gains. Oh that 
she may hear the Prophets warning voice ere it is too late, for she can- 
not retrograde. Even now she is shaken from her very basis. Be 
warned — Each earthquake's tone is the sentinel. Beware ! freedom to 
the slave, or desolation — this is the self-evident fact now presented to 
her view. The right of the Negro, or war. He will have it. 

That the African is not a man is vetoed by France. 

That he should not be a slave, is asserted by England. 

That the United States is shaken by his fame, Dred Scott is z, proof. 

But arrayed to do battle with the Great God of the Universe she 
cares not what comes; determined to rob humanity of its right — the 
Prophet speaks in vain. Then shake, ye unhallowed Senate house of 
this too long perjured land. Shake, ye tempest, until their lowering 
ruins creep heaps on heaps, until the earth opens, and chaos takes pon- 
derous weight to hurl through dark unbounded space. Then call ye 
statesmen — good men call, let Washington come to save her. Alas ! 
'tis too late — your country is fallen to rise no more — a Republic — false, 
proud, and free. 

How she we]Dt — and criedthe Constitution, the Constitution — save 
me, save me. Look ! where once she stood, the pride of nations — not 
a remnant, not a vestige now remains. Nought but the " rock of 
tnxth " is seen — upon it one erect, in his right hand a scroll, and on 
it are written these words — "all men are born free and'equal." That is 
Jefferson, too late to save. Retepo Soloco." 

State Convention. 



The Third Annual State Convention of the colored citizens of the 
State of California, will be held in the city of San Francisco, on the 
13th of Oct. 1857, at 10 o'clock A. M. Every Assembly District in 
the State is entitled to send two Delegates for every member of the 
Assembly. 

By order of the State Executive Committee. 

J. H. TowNSEND, Chairman, 

E. P. Duplex, Sec'ty." 



13 



From the Mirror. 
JACK AlVD GILIi. 

As Jack met Gill (lie other day, 
'Xwas thus they gossipped on the way : 

JACK. 
What is all this bustle, all this row, 
That doth excite our people so? 
■What bubble new, or speculation, 
Doth agitate their expectation ? 
What arguments are those they hear 
That sounds so pleasant in their ear? 
What men are those who boldly stand 
And urge them to a foreign land ? 

GILL. 
My friend, you surely ought to know 
What got our people in this row : 
Have you not heard of declamations 
Upon the subject, " Emigration ?" 
Have you not heard our would-be-teachers 
Caring for us, poor simple creatures ? 
In social and in civil state, 
Would have us all to emigrate. 
They say, we suffer much vexations 
About some unjust taxations, 
Lately su) ject to P.'Cole-ation : 
Having no show in litigation, 
Cannot obtain to elevation. 
Nor hold an office in this nation ; 
Subject also to despotation, 
And many wrongs of aggravation . 
Have no reject in any nation ; 
Are held up oft to execration, „ 
And suffer some by combinations. 
The laws require our immolation, 
Condemns us without hesitation: 
To seek for any alteration — 
Your Welfare in expatriation ; 
For these and many reasons just, 
'Convene, say they, and congregTjte ; 
Select some man, adopt some plan, 
Sell out, back out, and emigrate — 
'Tis this, my friend has caused the row 
. Some vascilate — some hesitate ; 
Many prefer to live in Towns, 
And ONE or Mooee may emigrate. 

Clio. 
Jack and Gill — a round shot fired at me by the 
Mirror of the Times, June 20th, 1S57. 

Qill and Jack, is my wad for Sept. 15th. On 
Oct. loth, I will ram it home as you would'nt 
give me a chance before. 

GILL. AND JACK. 

Gill and Jack went up the hill 

To preach non-emigration, 
Jack forgot the logic book 

Which led to this oration . 
GILL. 
What shall we do my dearest Jack 

No book, no education, 
Nor sense enough to set us right, 

Kespecting emigration. 
JACK. 
Go 'long you silly fellow; FOOl, 

You don't deserve a station 
If you can't bliud the many fools. 

That stick to P.Cule-ation. 
They say that here we can't attain 

To any elevation; 
And hence their battle-cry — 

To arms — to emigration. 
I'm not afraid the Colored people. 

Will sink to degradation. 
So down with every one who says; - 

Hurrah for emigration. 



Why Gill we yet will be a race, 

And hold as noble station. 
As any black men ever held, 
Here in this Yankee nation. 
I know that I'll be President, 

And have my white relation, 
Shall I then become a fool, 

And favor emigration ? 
Oh yes, dear Gill, oh yes, 
Our hopes of elevation. 
Are just as sure as you're a fool. 

To preach non-emigration. 
Do be convinced dear, dear Gill, 

We need no education 
To silence every numbscull black. 

Who si^eaks of emigration. 
Then lend your aid ; keep down this people, 

Cut short their education, 
Prepare a mob and stop 
Their plans and thoughts of emigration. 
GILL. 
Well I declare, why Jack ! 

IIow great your education, 
A poet too of plots and contra plans, 

Respecting emigration. 
You with all your goodly friends, 

May scorn emancipation. 
And humbug all such foolish sots, 

As preach on emigration. 
You know stiff-colared A and T, 
Both wise men in our nation, 
Who live to save a many a sole, 

From fearful emigration. 
Advise with them dear fellow. 

To find your quick damnation. 
Which they do say is better far, 

Than think of emigration. 
T. has sense; A. easily led. 

By any declamation. 
'Tis thus his crooked head becomes 

Too soft for emigration. 
T. hath taught and led friend A., 

In dens of degradation, 
Till A.'s become a polished man, 

To vote down emigration. 
Meridian A. and polar T., 
Are 9° by 10° relation. 
Let Cole cry up ; let T. cry down, 

The A. cries mii>ui,i -gration. 
Our great and long friend A., 

Content with any station. 
At times he's pro. sometimes he's con., 

For pro-ctm emigration. 
These two I'll introduce to you, 
They Pete Cole's speculation; 
Their beetle brains cannot contain, 

His plans for emigration. 
Secure such friends as these. 

You'll share in their spoliations. 
I'll aid you too, although a dunce, 

To cry down emigration. 
Such friends secured, preach on, 

Work out the blacks salvation, 
While turn-coat A ., and treacherous T., 

Urge on non-eraiiiration. 
Say to all nations, kindreds, tongues. 

Farewell expatriation — 
We have not courage — spunk enough, 

To think of emigration. 
We'll rather be as Southern slaves. 
Bound here by black taxation ; 
Than have a puny Cole to rule, 

Or speak on emigration. 
To Mexico we will not go. 

Nor Moore's Canadian station, 
Till A. can say the Spanish word, 
That stands for emigration. 



y 



PREFACE. 



Gentieme:?^ : — With feelings of the greatest respect, I submit this 
feeble effort of my pen to you all, hoping that you will peruse these 
pages, and conclude, with me, that I am doing right, while endeavor- 
ing to place before the eyes of our less favored brethren these few sim- 
ple hints, to aid and encourage them while endeavoring to seek the 
path of wisdom. 

Would to God that I could do more ! Would that I had the power 
of Newton to demonstrate ! Would that I had the wisdom of Solo- 
mon, to pour forth the spirit of science in their souls ! 

In this effort, seek not the effusions of learning, nor the studied com- 
bination of grammatical and flowery speech ; but rather seek and 
treasure up the advice of one, perhaps, your junior in years, but not 
so in the experience and trials of the world. My object is pure. The 
Being who rules above, knows my desires, my hopes, and my aspira- 
tions for you all — for this people who see not their way clearly through 
the devious windings of Time. 

I assure you that I have never laid claim to be a scholar. I know 
too well the qualifications necessary to be one. I do not wish to make 
a show of my talent for the purpose of gaining the approbation of the 
public. I wish to awaketi, to awaken them to a sense of their degra- 
dation — their behindhandedness — more than that of any other people 
upon this little ball. 

I must acknowledge my gratitude to you all for the kindness and 
courtesy I have experienced in your midst since I have been with you, 
and I trust I shall never give occasion to receive less at your hands. I 
shall always endeavor to appreciate your kindness. Wherever my lot, 
by the will of Providence, may be cast, I shall kindly think of your 
welfare as identified with my own. 

I am not here as an orator — a man of many words ; but I subscribe 
to everything like action — prompt and well-developed action. 

I give place to those among us who are my superiors, oratorically ; 
but, with the pen, I mean to maintain my right. So let traitors 
beware ! 

That my oratorical friends are more fluent and powerful in speech 
than I am, is the will of nature. That I am a bad grammarian, is my 
teacher's fault and that of my dull understanding. Yes, O, thou orator, 
when thou risest, like the morning sun, in all the pomp and grandeur 
of ""Demosthenes, crowned with the laurels of thine own self-sufficiency, 
it appears to me that thou art powerful to save. It appears to me that 



15 

thy defiance is thrown as fire issueth from a demon's moutli, and tliy 
words appear letters written in living, liquid flame. O, how I fear thy 
" Wo betide the man that cometh to equal strife with me." Hence I'll 
leave thee, lonely, in thy glorious might ! 

Gentlemen — Though I am wending my lonely way through an al- 
most inextricable maze of difficulties, I see you ! And my sympathy, 
too, is ever with my humbled race. I am deeply, deeply interested in 
their welfare. This is an important crisis in our hisft)ry ; the every- 
day proceedings of the Avhite man against us, tells us this is the time 
not to pause. It tells us we want a knowledge of him and his ways, 
now, more than at any other previous period in his or our history. It 
tells us that we must be great in counsel, wise in thought, and firm 
in action to defeat his villanies. Yes, we want all this, and more, to 
shield us from the inclement storms that beat upon our house. Heavy 
is our doom ! Outcast from society ; without, they say, a country. — 
Let us unite and work together for our common good, and embrace 
each and every opportunity to benefit ourselves and each other ; and 
each, doing his duty to his fellow man — I say, each and all will come 
out of the seven-times heated fiery furnace — the prototypes of the seven 
mighty men of God. 

My greatest desire is to see ourselves combined and stable in eff'ort. 
Let us put away prejudices, and cease bickering. 

Let every one try to work for the common good of all, without dis- 
tinction as to color or wealth. God made the dark man as well as the 
light man, but he never made an Aristocratism ! 

The man among us who has twenty thousand dollars, and neither 
education, good sense, or manners, is, in my opinion, less to be appre- 
ciated by sensible persons than the honest Christian poor man, whose 
whole stock and capital are common sense, and his hands with which to 
earn his daily bread, to support himself and humble family. 

The rich presumer, however, bold in the strength of the almighty 
dollar, and who rules a king triumphant by its might, cannot make me 
bow so low to him as I would to the poor wise man his master. 

The man who fears not God, would trample upon the church, and 
make its children crouch subservient to his will. He who regards the 
Christian but as a tool to further his mean and basely-foul purposes ; 
the man w^ho hates the sound of a gospel-teacher's voice, and thinks 
philanthropy a mere thing, both base and vile, while ignorance is made 
his code of human law — to him I say, Away ; aye, to earth's remotest 
bound. "\Ve need thee not. 

Wisdom, truth, and justice I love and respect. To wisdom's voice 
now let us listen, while its teachings sublimely sweet upon our ears 
doth strike. With humble hearts, attend and learn. 

Blessed with a knowledge of these things, we shall no longer be 
swayed by sophistry's vile hand : but we shall know false reasoning 
by its shape, however plausible it may come — rebuke it — drive it hence. 
With wisdom's light, we shall not swerve from her just cause, even 
though devices base, alluring wiles, may blow a trumpet-breeze. So, 
when the demon shouts, and, with long outburst of cankering, eloquent 



16 

speech, give back, in wisdom's words, the terms that seal his fate — with, 
arms extended, high in air, invoking a God's terrific curse — defy him to 
his teeth, and say, " 'Ere I'm a slave, thou shalt be so first !" 

The object of the lecture included in these pages, when delivered, 
was to give the willing hearer and anxious inquirer after knowledge, a 
simple guide ; this latter being a thing very necessary to us ; and hence, 
though it may be denounced as the work of a simpleton, by learned 
gentlemen, still it may subserve the- purpose of the not so wise portion 
among us. Hence the critic may choose his points for sarcasm, and 
root out the very entrails of my discourse. He may pore over these 
pages as the infidel pores over the Word of God, to make it a laughing- 
stock ; yet, I shall have the advantage-ground, and for three reasons : 
First, I shall have caused him to read it. Secondly, I shall cause him 
to comment upon it. And, thirdly, he must confess that, with all his 
powerful criticism, he has not spunk enough to come forth and demon- 
strate the subject more clearly than myself — at least, he never has done 
so as yet. He knows to whom I am speaking ! " Do men light a 
candle, and put it under a bushel ?" 

Gentlemen — T hope that it is clearly understood by every person that 
I do not seek to curry favor with any individual, rich man or -an influ- 
ential one. Let talent work its own way through the world, though it 
be little, and in a rude state. It has been asserted that I am an ignora- 
mus ; Bueno ! but I do not mean to slip from under any burden I agree 
to carry. No, sirs, not till I am fairly convinced by others than up- 
start collegians that I am an x — x 

My motto is this : Answer my questions, and I will answer yours. — 
I do not, I repeat it, seek to win fame by empty show. This is a gen- 
eral supposition, and arises from Miss Serpent Prejudice. Now, I be- 
lieve that every reasonable colored man in this community, will agree 
with me when I say that, as we are now traveling on the track of good 
will, the chances of winning renown, in this city, are so slim that, be- 
fore a man can cleverly get enough of it, the tomb closes over him, and 
forty-and-four generations are forgotten. 

Now, hear ! I had better lecture upon some subject upon which I 
am better acquainted than astronomy ! Bitter ! But I guess I'll do 
just as I please about that. I don't want you to pick my subject for 
me. I've come to years of maturity ; thirty summers' heat and as 
many winters' cold have 'twined their link of thought within my breast. 
Remember, sir, I am not to be governed by any of your Southern 
principles, engendered here in the hot-bed of San Francisco. I am 
captain of my own little body. This is called a Free State, and I 
wish all slave-drivers, whether as black as chimney-soot, or as white as 
drifting snow, — I wish them to know, that I'm from the Empire State, 
and that I am governed by the sentiments inculcated in the children of 
her soil ; and, so long as I live and breathe in God's pure air — ^just so 
long I mean to do, say, act, think and speak, as every honest man does, 
in the good old State that gave me birth. You hear me, do you not ? 

Gentlemen — I respect every man, and mean to treat him with all the 
respect and courtesy due his talent and good standing in society. 



If* 

But things have come to a pretty pass, here, in this Western World. 
It is dangerous for a man to open his mouth. The very air is contam- 
inated with prejudice and envenomed spite. The whole Colored com- 
munity seems to be infatuated by a kind of human devil with a pair of 
tails and a fiery tongue that spits and stings to the " very death. " They 
are so govei'ned, and think so little for themselves, that reason and com- 
mon sense appear to them a thing most wonderful, a something similar 
to the Pope's garment — a sin to touch. But I was not born blind, neither 
do I require a glass of great magnifying power to bring before me 
plainly — to my passing view — the thousand and one deceits practised, 
and the various party under-ground workings of the vile-opposing, 
false fliced, hypocritical wolves in sheep's clothing that prey upon the 
remains of a suffering, helpless humanity. 

" O, for a Lodge in some vast wilderness !" 

So much talk about self-elevation, and no attempt made to reach 
even the mean. We have done so and so much towards the elevation of 
our race. Yes, with a vengeance ! And, then, how much have you 
undone 1 Nothing. Amen ! We'll see, for the year to come. You 
have worked with your magician's rod very well for six years past. — 
Now I wonder if you won't work with Aaron's for the future. I wou- 
der if this 1857 will be a year of jubilee, also ; there's no telling — that's 
so. You have that down rather too fine. 1 guess you will have a little 
extra help this season, and see if you don't work out Bates' scheme 
easier. "Two heads are better than one, if one is a sheep's head." 

But to the elevation scrape. Now do pray tell us what devil is so 
base as to teach men to lie so unconcionably that they may not only 
deceive others but themselves, with such apparent truths. 

Is it not a fact that, if any man attempts to enlighten his fellow-op- 
pressed fellow-man, open his eyes to his real deplorable condition — 
to point out the way to him — how he may best emerge from his servile 
condition to a ruthless tyrant — I say, is it not a fact that that man is a 
fool 1 Must he not be driven from our midst by sarcasm, vile argu- 
ment and base lying ; and that, too, by a set of men who will not be 
governed by either truth, justice, or reason ; but who are determined 
to be governed with every false power within their grasp, and sway the 
sceptre of ungodliness — blinding the already blind. " Let them move 
Gibraltar !" Actually, I do not believe that, in any other land within 
creation's pale, can be found such curious modes for the amelioration of 
Man. I am certain the missionary never acts thus, except he be aided 
by the " old boy" himself. 

Do tell me, fellow-traveler, wherever you be, in what country in this 
wide world, have you ever seen the like modes of " Re-civilizing" 
Man 1 How are men civilized ? How are men affected by ameliora- 
tion ? Is their amelioration their re-sinking into barbarism"? What 
are the effects or enlightenment upon a race? Ignorance? What are 
the conditions by which a people are made better? 

A people, emerging from a state of ignorance, are led by some potent 
cause. This cause, most generally, is their coming iu contact with an- 



18 

other people more enlightened than themselves ; by imbibing the latter's 
feelings and sentiments of refinement, by having engrafted in them 
ideas of civilization ; and, by the receipt of knowledge, drive from 
them the very relics of barbarism, that wisdom may become a part and 
j)arcel of them. 

Thus we see, that the way for the philanthropist must be cleared, 
that he may build upon the ruins of misanthropy the fabric of enlight- 
enment. The strongholds of prejudice must be torn from the very 
roots, and then he may rear upon their base the standard of to think, 
to speak, and to act freely are Divine gifts from God to Man. 

Touching ourself : I cannot see, for the life of me, as says " a friend 
to the cause," why it is that these eloquent Websterian orators, Mur- 
rayite grammarians, Babinetical astronomers, and self-conceited mathe- 
maticians, do not call us to account rightly, and give us a few simple ex- 
traneous ideas — a few simple lectures upon the errors committed by us 
in grammar. Do we commit more than they 1 We want to know our 
errors. Do come out and give us a few demonstrations of your scien- 
tific capacities. The public won't dislike it. I'll stand between you and 
them, and shield you from their sarcasm — all of you — as if I were 
your god-father. 

Let me beseech you to come forth from your den, and aid the poor 
school-boy. Let him see you demonstrate the laws by which the plan- 
ets are governed. I don't say you can't do it. Let us have some more 
of your false ideas respecting comets, and see you solve the baby-prob- 
lem that appeared in the Mirror of the Times " No hace muclio .'" 

Now, brothers bug, it is well enough — it is well — to be saying to the 
four winds that we have here a certain Peter Cole, lecturing upon sub- 
jects incompatible with his scope of mind, and that he says he does it 
because he believes there's nothing like trying to see what we know of 
these subjects. That he caused to be printed a problem, in the Mirror 
of the Times — a sum that had neither beginning nor end. 1 think if 
you look again, you will see that you got that saying down wrong. It 
has an end : but, Lbelieve, no beginning. Yes, indeed, whatever you gents 
say is law ; but there's not much gospel about it. It is all very good 
as far as talk goes; very sound and acceptable logic for the insane, and 
all such as are willing to believe just what they are told ; for those who 
are willing to be led, bound hand and foot — aye, led by the ear, as a 
sheep to the slaughter. What a wonderful progressive age ! Je crois 
que oui. 

But, Messieurs, until we shall meet face to face, and until you prove 
to me that I cannot puzzle some of your literatic Knohs in the rules of 
Smith or some other English grammarian, (when you go to Greek and 
Latin you will beat me,) until you shall convince me that the combined 
researches of Newton, Halley, and a host of other great astronomers, 
are mere school-boys ; sums, until you shall convince me that I cannot 
demonstrate the very ideas set forth by the originators respecting com- 
ets, etc. ; — as they are to be demonstrated that a child may understand 
them — until then, I shall think, say, and endeavor to propagate the doc- 
trine that you are trying to rid yourselves from your duty to me ; and 
that you are the green ones — and, not only green ignoramuses and bab- 



19 

Ming plagiarists, but down-right long-eared jackasses! lam just like 
an angel's visit ! Notice that ! ! Put it in your pipe and smoke it ! ! ! 

Not being necessitated, I never pretend to meddle with aflairs politi 
cally considered ; for I hate every class of monkey-logic ; I stand as 
the Hon. Edward Stanley says, upon no platform but my own. It is 
that of right, and for the full undivided dissemination of enlightment,. 
religion and educational truth, among us. I am willing to share my 
talent with the good man, and listen to the wise man, and learn his 
ways. Therefore, again, I say, I ask from every man that courtesy due 
from one to another. I ask from no man anything as a pauper. Give 
and I will return the kindness. I attack no man for his sentiments, so 
long as he keeps to windward of me ; but just as soon as he boards my 
craft, he'll get as bitter a pill as I can give him. 

But your kindness is a fiery serpent, and your favors dangerous even 
to your friends. 

Qne thing, I must say, that I am greatly puzzled. I can see into Eu- 
clid ; but I cannot find out why the disciples of certain "baboon" crit- 
ics are always asserting that they are battling with our common enemy, 
for the purpose of overthrowing the quality most prominent in them- 
selves. Really, this is a modern curiosity to me. Why, gentlemen, 
prejudice is found in them fourfold greater thin in any Mhite man in 
creation. And, another thing, I would like to see into. My mind is 
not satisfied with superficial knowledge. Why is it that they, knowing 
that some of us are not capable of discerning the drift of their reason- 
ing, the depth of the mean, basely vile quality, imbrued into their 
hearts, why is it, they are so ungenerous as to heap insult upon insult, 
and cap the very climax of guile, by trying to put out the little light of 
reason that even the fool has left. 

Truly, we are a silly nation, not to see, and follow the dictates of 
Reason ! 

Here are men who have set themselves before us as a beacon-light to 
guide us safely, and, instead of leading us into the path of safety, 
they drag iis into the quagmire of deceit and ignorance — we going 
willingly. 

They encourage us to progress ! but why, if they are afraid that by 
so doing, we shall nip the rose from their crown of ill-gotten glory. If 
they be sincere in their wishes and endeavors for our good, and rejoice 
when we do right — if they see that, in our endeavors we err, why do they 
not, like men, assume such a position that we may see plainly in what 
points we are astray "? — come forth and argue these points clearly, that 
we may get what we are seeking for — Wisdom ? 

But it is no use talking. We might just as well ask Dr. Scott 
whether a man can be a Christian, God-fearing man, and, at the same 
time, a slave-holder, and expect from him an answer in the affirmative. 

My sincere wish is, that they will come forth and correct our errors, 
and not condemn what we believe they cannot do half so well as our- 
selves. Every man, with but a bite of knowledge, knows that criticism 
is one thing, and scholarship another. Why, if we had half as many 
scholars in this town as we have critics, I don't know where ignorance 
could find a hiding-place. 



20 

Gentlemen, believe nie when I say, that to preach to us how we shall 
go to work and elevate ourselves, without giving us a practical example 
as a guide, is useless ; and I say, that those who preach the doctrine of 
self-elevation, had better cease it until they can fully divest themselves 
of their evil ways, and dig up the great stumbling-block. Prejudice, 
out of their path. It is that which prevents them from gaining 'vant- 
age ground in the very city they are trying to build up. 

In conclusion : Gentlemen, to whom I dedicate these pages, do you 
think I shall find it an honor to crouch to such men 1 Common raen-^ 
men who hate real worth? Do you think I am to be tickled by theii* 
applause, won by their entreaties, degraded by their misrepresentation, 
or driven by their reproaches ? I, who have entered the courts of 
kings and princes, enjoyed the smile and received the care of 
some of the greatest men of modern times, both in foreign lands and in 
my own 1 Do you believe that I am to be called to the sound of every 
penny-whistle, from which is blown a San Francisco march, to drive 
us to the heights of great renown 1 No, no, no ! I have seen, 
and do see, this world as it is created by God. I moreover see it, and 
sorrowfully, as man has modelled it, and I am satisfied that everything 
on it, and relative to it, not immediately in conjunction with the Divine 
will, is -s'anity — the vanity of vanities. 

Therefore, believe me when I say, that I shall appreciate very little, 
how great soever may be the name I gain among such men as I term 
Philo-philanthropes. 

Yours, most respectfully, 

PETER COLE. 
To the Eevs. J. J. Moore, T. Detter, C. Satchel, J. B. Handy ; W. 

E. Keeling, Esq. ; Messrs. J. P. Scott, W. Browk, J. G. 

Marshall, and D. W. Ruggles. 
San Francisco, Oct. 1, 1857. 



PART SECOND. 
EDUCATION. 

Religion holding the primary place, there is nothing else which ele- 
vates and fits us so well for the discharge of all our duties in life, both 
public and domestic, as education. 

There are two classes of education which are more particularly to 
be taken into view. The first, or that which is imbued in us with our 
appearance in existence, is Natural education. 

The second is the first, modified by every Artificial means. 

The Natural education implanted in us, teaches us right from wrong 
— teaches us that we are governed by a Great and Supreme Being. — 
It shows us our dependency upon that Being — the respect due him 
from us, and withal, teaches us how to accommodate and suit our con- 
dition in regard to the things which the Maker of us has committed to 
our care for the promotion of our own welfare, that of our inferiors, 
and God's own glory. 



21 

This first, being Man's inherent education, is plainly distinguished 
from the second by being the foundation upon which the second, or Ar- 
tificial system, is reared. 

The mind of man may be aptly compared to a garden. Natural edu- 
cation is the seed sown by our Maker — the most skillful of all hus- 
bandmen. Each one of us is properly but a laborer employed to har- 
vest. 

The natural seed which has been sowed in this most prolific of all 
soil, (the human mind) when well weeded and watered by a skillful 
cultivator, when he has applied rightly all the utensils of agriculture 
which were placed in the garden, for his use, viz ; patience, persever- 
ance and care — he will reap a rich harvest for his toil — be fully remu- 
nerated by the abundance of his crop, and greatly pleased with the view 
of his once barren field ; now a rich land yielding two fold profit for 
his pains. 

From the conclusions here drawn, we adduce the satisfactory evi- 
dence, that every man has within him the germ of education, and that 
it depends wholly upon himself, whether he cultivate and nourish it — 
whether he improve or waste his time. 

Since it is said in Holy "Writ, that God has created each one of us 
very little lower than the Angels, and since Angels are so intelligent 
beings, constituted with wisdom as far surpassing that of Solomon as 
there are heavenly beings above — we, being a very little'less than they, 
must have within the store-house of the mind an inconceivably vast 
amount of treasure, which, when drawn forth, and properly applied to 
all the various uses for which it was given, we are benefitted ; God 
will be glorified and the Angels rejoiced. Hence : 

Self-cultivation, or education, will be what we are to seek for in or- 
der that we may accomplish the important task binding upon us, viz ; 
our welfare, God's glory, and the happiness of our to be fellow spir- 
its. 

" Self-culture has called forth the hidden energies of the soul, and 
fitted its votaries to become the pillars and bulwarka. of society. It has 
taught them that man is not a " leaning willow," but a being, noble in 
reason and infinite in faculties ; that he must not rely wholly upon for- 
eign aid, but must task his own powers, and be able to measure his capac- 
ities. This resolute spirit, though latent, can, when fanned into a flame, 
lead him through every trying emergency, and teach him to remove ob- 
stacle after obstacle, till the path lies open to the goal of his ambition, 
the proudest pinnacle of science." 

" In taking a survey of the master spirits that have at diff"erent pe- 
riods swayed the world, we find the most prominent among them to be 
those who have risen by their own exertions, and overcome all opposi- 
tion with their own hands ; men who have emerged from obscurity, 
and by dint of unremitting labor passed every mile-stone on the high 
road to wisdom ; men who, deprived of all outward aid, have turned 
inward to their own understandings, and found a teacher there." 

" This teacher continually urged them 'onward and upward' until 
the aspirations of that mind which God has made immortal, have im- 



22 

pelled fhem forward to their high and honorable destiny. And all 
have this teacher, this quenchless spirit, and might have this same un- 
conquerable resolution." 

" Poor men might — did they choose, become kings, not of State or 
Empire, but of the world of intelligence ; they might grasp the scep- 
ter of knowledge and reign in prouder state than does the monarch in 
his jewelled robes and glittering tiara? for what diadem so priceless 
as that of wisdom ? They might search the pages of ancient lore, and 
■win many a gem to sparkle in that crown, of which the proudest kings 
might still be prouder." 

" A life of luxury induces sloth, destroys the mental perceptions, and 
enervates a frame naturally vigorous ; while the senses, sharpened by 
privation, are rendered better capable of deep reflection, and the eye of 
the soul becomes expanded till its piercing vision can gaze undimmed 
upon the sparkling treasures of intellect." 

" Learning delights to visit the hut of the backwoodsman as well as 
the lofty mansion of the citizen ; all may drink yet — still her unfailing 
fountain- will be ever full. How sweet is the reward of the mind that 
can say ; — I have been my own teacher. How much more enjoyment 
does it know, than he who, having all the advantages which learning 
could bestow, has cast them lightly aside, and refused instruction. It 
feels that the knowledge it has gained is its own by a right to which 
none can either question or take away." 

" And it knows that the treasures it may have acquired can never be 
lost or perverted to ignoble purposes, because being obliged to toil for 
them, it has learned to estimate their real value. As no theory can be 
sustained without illustration, I will point out one from among the 
mass of numerous instances in which men have risen by their own ex- 
ertions, to fill exalted stations in the world of letters ; the self-edu- 
cated Franklin, the father of American Science." 

" When a rough, awkward boy, the Governor of New York, having 
heard of his uncommon abilities, sent for him in order to test his ac- 
quirements, thinking no doubt within a short time to sound the mind 
of the untutored " Yankee." In the course of conversation the youth- 
ful Franklin quoted Locke, at which the astonished law-giver started 
back in amazement. 

" Locke ! and pray, sir, where did you study Locke ? " At home, in 
a tallow chandler's shop," was the answer. The same persevering 
spirit which led him to search the secrets of philosophy impelled him 
forward, until science gave into his hands the keys of her power, and 
" the lightning played harmless at his feet." 

We do not believe, as has been said in times of yore, that a man 
cannot without the continued aid of an instructor arrive at a sufficiency 
of education to enable him to grasp the higher sphere of knowledge. 

Grasp the very elements and retain them practically, do not neglect to 
apply them at each and every opportunity that is afi"orded, and see to 
where you will arrive. Every man who is, and wishes to be, truly- 
great in the paths of art and science, must labor for himself. He 
wants a teacher no longer than to become initiated in the preliminaries 



23 

of his future progress in whatever particular branch he is to make his 
studies. Hence, I say, secure well the elements — cultivate them, and 
apply some of the self-confidence assumed in cases where it brings no 
gain. Let every man believe he can, and he will become great ; de- 
pend upon it. 

Daniel Webster, showing us how scholars are made, says : 

" Costly apparatus and splendid cabinets have no magical power to 
make scholars. In all circumstances, a man is under God, the master 
of his own mind.. The Creator has so constituted the human intellect, 
that it can grow only by its own action, and , by its own action, it must 
certainly and necessarily grow. Every man must, therefore, in an im- 
portant sense educate himself — the work is his. A man is not educa- 
ted uatil he has the ability to summon, in an act of emergency, all his 
mental powers in vigorous exercise to effect his proposed object. It is 
not the man who has seen most, or has read most, who can do this ; 
such an one is in danger of being borne down like a beast of burden 
by an overburdened mass of other men's thoughts. Nor is the man 
who can boast merely of native vigor, or capacity. The greatest of 
all the Warriors that went to the siege of Troy, had strenght and car- 
ried the largest bow ; but as greater, because self-discipline had 
taught him how to bend it." 

^■^ Conquer one thing at a time, and but little of it, and you get along 
better, fester — surer ; most satisfactorily will your progress be to your- 
self, and more perceptible to your friends. By so doing, time is gain- 
ed ; great improvement is made, the labor less, and money saved. 

The years and months spent under the careful tuition of the instruc- 
tor very often has a tendency to disgust the student, instead of enlist- 
ing him in favor of science. Too many studies at a time burden the 
mind and really vitiate it, unless the mind be of the Newtonic class. 

Who docs not become tired of an army of formal rules and a pha- 
lanx of mock recitations? The time lost, labor spent, and money- 
squandered in the education of a single numbskull sophomore, is not 
unfrcquently but a small portion of the troubles given to his friends; 
for the individual who has no hope of his own success, must never be 
expected by his friends to grace the throne of knowledge. Yes, the 
sum spent to collegiate such an individual is often sufficient to make 
him a scholar ten times the superior of Newton. 

" Education is meutal discipline." 

" The human mind is the brightest display of the power and skill of 
the Infinite mind with which we are acquainted. It is created and plac- 
ed in this world to be educated for a higher state of existence. 

Here the foculties begin to unfold, and those mighty energies which 
are to bear it forward to unending ages, begin to discover themselves." 

" The object of training such a mind, should be to enable the soul to 
fulfill her duties well here, and to stand on high \antage ground when 
she leaves this cradle of her being for an eternal existence beyond th^ 
grave. There is now and then a youth who, like Ferguson, can tend 
sheep in the field, and there accurately mark the position of the stars 



24 

with a thread ?nd beads, and with his knife construct a watch from wood ; 
but such instances are rare. Most need encouragement to sustain, in- 
struction to aid, and directions to guide them." 

" The mighty minds which have gone before us, have left treasures for 
our inheritance, and the choicest gold is to be had for the digging. — 
How great the dissimilarity between the naked Indian, dancing with joy 
over a new feather for his head-dress, and such a mind as that of New- 
ton, or of Boyle ! And what makes the difference 1 " 

" There is mind enough in the savage ; he can almost outdo the in- 
stincts of the prey which he hunts, but his soul is like the marble pil- 
low. There is a beautiful statue in it, but the hand of the sculptor has 
never laid the chisel upon it." 

" That mind of the savage has never been discij^lined by study ; and 
it, therefore, appears in the comparison, like the rough bison of the for- 
est, distinguished only for strength and ferocity." 

" I am not now to discuss the question whether the souls of men are 
naturally equal. You may have a good mind, a sound judgment, or a 
vivid imagination, or a wide reach of thought and of views ; but be- 
lieve me, you, probably are not a genius, and can never become dis- 
tinguished without severe application. 

" Hence, all that you ever have, must be the result of labor ; hard un- 
tiring labor." 

"You have friends to cheer you on ; you have books and teachers to 
aid you, and multitudes of helps. But after all, discipline and educa- 
ting your mind must be your own work. No one can do this but your- 
self. And nothing in the world is of any worth, which has not labor and 
toil as its price." 

" The Zephyrs of summer can but seldom breathe around you. I 
forsee distinctly that you Mali have to double Cape Horn in winter sea- 
son and to grapple with the gigantic spirit of the storm, which guards 
the Cape, and I forsee as distmctly that it will depend entirely on your 
own skill and energy, whether you survive the fearfiil encounter and 
live to make a port in the mild latitudes of the Pacific." 

" Set it down for a fact to which there are no exceptions, that we 
must labor for all that we have, and that nothing is worth possessing or 
offering to others, which costs us nothing. The first and great object of 
education is to discipline the mind. Make it the first object to be able 
to fix and hold your attention upon your studies." 

" He Avho can do this has mastered many and great difficulties ; and 
he who cannot do it will in vain look for success in any department of 
study." 

" Patience is a virtue kindred to attention ; and without it the mind 
cannot be said to be disciplined. Patient labor and investigation are 
not only essential to success in study, but are an unfailing guarantee to 
success." 

"The student should learn to think and act for himself True origi- 
nality consists in doing things well, and doing them in your own way. 
A mind half educated is generally imitating others. " No man was 
ever great by imitation. Let it be remembered that we cannot copy 
greatness or goodness by any effort. We must acquire it by our own 
patience and diligence." 



25 

" Another object of study is to form the judgment, so that the mind 
can not only investigate, but weigh and balance opinions and theories. 
Without this, you will never be able to decide what to throw aside ; 
what author to distrust or what opinions to receive. Some of the most 
laborious men and diligent readers pass through life without accomplish- 
ing anything desirable for what may be called a well-balanced judg- 
ment." 

" The great instrument of affecting the world is in the mind ; and no 
instrument is so decidedly and continually improved by exercise and 
use as the mine. Many seem to feel as if it were not safe to put forth 
all their powers at one effort. You must reserve yonr strength for 
great occasions just as you would use your horse, moderately and 
carefully on common occasions, but give him the spur on occasions of ' 
great emergency. This might be well were the mind, in any respect 
like the bones and muscles of the horse." 

"You may call upon your mind to-day for its highest efforts, and 
stretch it to the utmost in your power, and you have done yourself a 
kindness. The mind will be all the better for it. To-morrow, you 
may do it again ; and each time it will answer more readily to your 
call." 

" But remember that real discipline of mind does not consist so 
much on now and then making a great effort, as in having the mind so 
trained that it will make constant efforts." 

^' The perfection of a disciplined mind is not to be able on some 
great contingency, to rouse up its faculiies and draw out a great 
strength, but to have it always ready to produce a given and an equal 
quantity of results in a given and equal time." 

Again let me say to you, that it may be deeply impressed upon your 
minds : as a proof of the non-necessity of daily and continued aid from 
others, to read the biography of the greatest Lights of learning, the 
most illustrious scholars ; those men who did most to bring learning to 
its present desirable state ; those who dug it out of the ruins of barba- 
iism, from the middle ages — read attentively the ancient history of 
Rome, Greece and Egypt, and you will see that poets, painters, sculp- 
tors, or those engaged in the more severe and abstruse sciences of Nat- 
ural Philosophy, all bowed down and worshipped at the shrine of 
Patience and Perseverance. 

How many in the vast list of renowned names now the pride and 
glory of the earth ? How many can we enumerate, who at the com- 
mencement had the patronage of neither king, prince, nor noble ; but 
oft strove with the most abject poverty and surmounted difficulties made, 
alone, for noble minds. 

Yes, amid every discouragement they rose to a point of excellence 
that caused both king and prince to bow down in homage, court and ad- 
mire, value and esteem, the emenations of their fruitful minds. 

" Such meu lost no time— no opportunity to improve their minds." 

" To make a proper use of that short and uncertain portion of time 
allotted us for our mortal pilgrimage, is a proof of wisdom ; to use it 



26 

with economy and dispose of it with care, discovers prudence and dis- 
cretion. Let, therefore, no part of your time escape without making 
it subservient to the wise purposes for which it was given, it is the most 
inestimable of all treasures. You will find a constant employment of 
your time condusive to your health and happiness ; and not only a sure 
guard against the encroachments of vice, but the best recipe for content- 
ment. Seek employment, and languor and ennui shall be unknown. — 
Avoid idleness ; banish sloth ; vigor and cheerfulness will be your em- 
bracing companions ; admit not guilt to your hearts, and terror shall 
not interrupt your slumbers.'" 

'' Follow the footsteps of virtue ; walk steadily in her paths, and she 
will conduct you through flowery and pleasant paths to the temples of 
peace ; she will guard you from the wily snares of vice and heal the 
wounds of sorrow and disappointment which time may afflict." 

" By being constantly and usefully employed the destroyer of mortal 
happiness will have but few opportunities of making his attacks, and 
by regularly filling up your precious moments, you will be less expos- 
ed to dangers. Venture not, then, to waste an hour, lest the next 
should not be yours to squander. Hazard not a single day in guilty or 
improper pursuits ; lest the day which follows should be ordained to 
bring you an awful summons to the tomb ; a summons to which youth 
and old age are equally liable." 

" Reading improves the mind ; and you cannot better employ a por- 
tion of your leisure time than in the pursuit of knowledge, , By observ* 
ing a regular habit of reading, a love of it will soon be acquired. 1^ 
will prove an unceasing amusement, and pleasant resovirce in the hour^ 
of sorrow and discontent ; an unfailing antidote against languor and in" 
dolence. Much caution is, however, necessary in the choice of books ; 
It is among them as among human characters. Many would prove 
, dangerous and pernicious advisers. They tend to mislead the imagina- 
tion and give rise to a thousand erroneous opinions and ridiculous ex- 
pectations." 

" I would not, however, wish to deprive you of the pleasures of socie- 
ty, or of rational amusement ; but let your companions be select — let 
them be such as you can love for their good qualities, and whose virtues 
you are desirous to emulate ;■ let your amusements be such as will tend^ 
not to corrupt and vitiate, but to correct and amend the heart. " 

" Finally, I would earnestly request you never to neglect employinga 
portion of your time in addressing your heavenly father, in paying to 
him that tribute of prayer and praise which is so justly due to him as 
" the author of every good and perfect gift," as our Creator, Preserver, 
and Redeemer, " in whom we live, move, and have our being," and 
"without whose blessing none of our undertakings prosper." 

"Thus, by employing the time given you in the service of virtue, you 
will pass your days with comfort to yourself, and those around you , 
and by persevering to the end, shall at length obtain " a crown of glory 
which fadeth not away." 

Let Benjamin Franklin be your guide — he who drew the lightening 
from on high ; read attentively his history ; then compare his latter 
years, with those of his early youth, and you will see what patience 



27 

and perseverance can do. His boyhood is an exemplification of patience, 
and the sublime fruits of his expanded mind, given us to taste, the en- 
genderings of his powerful brain, always filled with god-like ideas — 
their results show iis perseverance in its most potent form. 

There is no excuse for age nor sex. It is never too late to begin, so 
that we begin rightly at the onset. A fear of not being able to learn is 
the greatest impediment in the path of the student. Remove this fear 
and the man of fifty is better calculated to grasp the simple elements of 
knowledge than a youth. The man of forty has just as good a chance 
to become a scholar as the lad of twenty ; the grand impediment is a 
non-self-confidence ; but you mistake the effect ; it comes from a very 
hurtful CAUSE. You bring theobjection to bear — I am too old! Education 
is an enterprise. Are you afraid to undertake an enterprise that you 
never heard of before, knowing that by accomplishing it, being told that 
its finale will bring to your gain a million dollars ? Would you have 
the least fear to undertake it? Had you, in what way would it act upon 
that fear ] In what light would you view the undertaking? How would 
you reason in regard to it ? Why thus, most certainly it is a great un- 
dertaking ; Really, I do wonder whether I shall succeed in its accom- 
plishment 1 A million dollars ! that's a pretty big sum to sin for, but 
no matter. I'll try it at any rate. I'll do my best to succeed. The 
mind made up, then comes the good trite saying, " there is nothing like 
trying." " Then would you hang your banners high on the outer 
wall," and to the conquest rush, with the cry of" patience and perseve- 
rance overcome all things." 

Yes, some of us would gain that million were we to sell our souls; 
We would — w^e could face the eternal Demon for it ; and be bold 
enough to attack Gibaraltar single handed were the million within it; 
Nor would we stop at the thought, but confidently believe ourselves 
able to storm Sebastapol. Aye, tear up the earth, for a million of 
dollars. 

With just such feelings let us set about getting a little common sense, 
and just as sure as w^e do — just as sure as we come within the pale of 
these efforts, be we .old, or be we young, the accomplishment of the, 
thing so really necessary for us will be attained. 

He who begins his studied, at a late period in life with such feelings 
when the powers of reason are in full bloom, in their maturity, when the 
passage through life has been well seasoned by a want of Education and 
an opportunity to obtain it. Then whenever the opportunity presents 
itself, there is no excuse. Such an one can take in the essential the true 
ground work of knowledge, and once having this, drink deeply from the 
flowing water of its fount, which never fail. 

With the elements well digested the way is clear to (ramp the varied 
winding footpaths to the boundless arc of knowledge, which is power. 

At a mature age the anxious seeker views Education as he would a 

field, a farm or any valuable, sought to be possessed for its real use. 
*********** 

Beautiful is the sight to the soul seeking to be initiated in the wonders 
of the Divine God ; when first his footsteps touch the land of Newton, 
Boyle, Locke and Bacon. Aghast he stands; with emotions of ama- 



28 

zing delight he sees upon the vast extended plain of science its beaute- 
ous array of talent ; its gorgeous panoply ; the varied trappings of its 
-timeworn steeds, with all the varied instrumentalities of scientific and 
aristic war. 

A single screw is touched, and by it, to his view is brought in close 
conjunctive range one half the mighty worlds — from God's creative 
hand hurled and self dependant hanging in mighty space, there to ex- 
ist till times' commenced race is run. 

He sees the mighty telegraphic wire by which he sends his thought 
in swift reply through half Creative bound. 

There he views great puissant steam, by whose command the mighty 
deep is cleaved as doth a man sever a branch, by its power the very 
oaks are made a living thing, and sent humming through the madden- 
ing tides. 

To study effectually^ there must be a fixed determination to 
overcome what is all lotted as a daily task. There must be a clear 
idea of what we are about to study ; have explained with care, what we 
do not understand. Listen attentively, and never know more than he 
■who instructs us, if we know less ; always have a mountain of patienee ; 
for if we have not this last quality, stop studying — we labor in vain. 

Dr. Watts says in regard to the true method of obtaining knowledge: 
. " Deeply impress your mind with the vast importance of a sound 
judgment and the rich and inestimable advantage of sound reasoning. 
Review the instances of your own misconduct in life and observe how 
many follies and sorrows you would have escaped, if from your early 
years you had taken the pains to judge rightly concerning persons, times 
and things. This will awaken you to the work of improving your rea- 
soning powers and of seizing every opportunity for this end. 

"Take a wide survey, now and then, of the unlimited regions of 
learning. Let your meditations run over the names of all the sciences, 
with their numerous branches and particular themes of knowledge, 
and then reflect with how few you are acquainted. The most learned 
of mortals will never find occasion to act over again what is fabled of 
Alexander the Great, that when he had conquered what was called the 
Eastern World, he wept for want of more worlds to conquer. The 
worlds of science are innumerable and endless." 

" Read the accounts of those vast treasures of knoAvledge which some 
of the dead have possessed, and some of the living do possess, and be 
astonished at the almost incredible advances that have been made in 
science. Acquaint yourself with some persons of great learning, that, 
by comparing yourself with them you may acquire a just opinion of 
yourself — of your own attainments — and be animated with a generous 
and laudable emulation to equal or excel them. But, remember if, 
upon a few superficial acquirements, you value and exalt' yourself, as 
though you were already learned, you are thereby erecting an impassa- 
ble barrier against all improvement." 

"Presume not too much upon a bright genius, a ready wit, and good 
parts, for these, without labor and study, will never make a man of 
knowledge and wisdom. Persons of a gay and vigorous fancy have 
often fallen into mistake. They have been acknowledged to shine in 



an assembly, and sparkle in a discourse upon common topics, and there- 
fore, have resolved to abandon reading and study ; but, when they had 
lost their vivacity of animal nature and youth, they became stupid and 
sottish, even to contempt and ridicule. It is by meditation and studi- 
ous thought that gives good sense even to the best genius." 

" Exercise your reason and judgment upon all you read ; for, if your- 
Icarning be a mere accumulation of what others have written, without 
duo penetration into the meaning, and a judicious choice and determina- 
tion of your own sentiments, your head has little better title to true 
knowledge than the shelves of your library." 

" Do not be suddenly t^ken upon the surtaees of things, or with mere 
appearances, for this will fill the mind with errors and prejudices, and 
give it an ill habit of thinking ; but penetrate into the depth of matters 
as far as your time and circumstances will allow." 

" Once a day, especially in the early years of life and study, examine 
what new ideas you have gained, and what advances you have made in 
any part of knowledge, and let no day, if possible, pass without some 
intellectual gain. It was a sacred rule among the Pythagoreans that 
they should, every evening, run thrice over the actions and atlairs of the 
day, and examine what their conduct had been, what they had done, and 
what they had neglected ; assured that, by this method, they would 
make a rapid progress in the path of knowledge and virtue." 

THE ADVANTAGES OF TEMPERANCE. 

" Temperance promotes clearness and vigor of intellect. If the func- 
tions of the brain be not in a healthy and vigorous state, equally un- 
healthy and inefficient must be those of the mind. History will bear 
me out in asserting, that the highest and most successful intellectual 
eflR^rts h.'vve ever been associated with the practice of those general 
principles of temperance in diet for which I plead." 

" It is the mighty minds that have grappled most successfully with the • 
demonstrations of mathematical, intellectual and moral science, that 
stand highest on the scale of mental acumen and power ; and it is such 
minds that have found strict temperance in diet essential to their success. 
Let us advert to the history of a few of the master-spirits of the hu- 
man race." 

" Foremost on the list stands Sir Isaac Newton. The treatise of his 
that cost him the mightiest intellectal effort of all his works, was com- 
posed while the body was sustained by bread and water alone. And, 
in spite of the wear and tear of such protracted and prodigious mental 
labor as his, that same temperance sustained him to his eighty-fifth year" 

"The celebrated John Locke, with a feeble constitution, outlived the 
term of three-score years and ten by his temperance. To his tem^ orate 
mode of life, too, he was probably indebted for the increase of those 
intellectual powers that gave us his incomparable work on the human 
understanding, his treatises on government and education, as well as his 
other writings, VN'hich do so much honor to his memory." 

" Another intellectual philosopher, who saw four-score years, was the 
venerable Kant. ' By his commendable and healthy practice of early 



so 

rising,' says his biographer, ' daily exercise on foot, temperance in eat- 
ing and drinking, constant employment and cheerful company, he pro- 
tracted his life to this advanced period,' and, we may add, acquired the 
power for his immense labors of mind." 

"Few men have more fully established their claims to intellectual 
superiority of a very high grade, than President Edwards ; but it was 
temperance alone that could carry him through such powerful mental 
efforts. Though constitutionally tender, by the rules of temperance he 
enjoyed good health, and was enabled to j)ursue his studies thirteen 
hours a-day." 

" The same means enabled Martin Luther, though his days were 
stormy in the extreme, to make the moral world bend at his will, and 
to leave his posterity so many profound literary productions. ' It often 
happened,' says his biographer, ' that, for several days and nights, he 
locked himself up in his study, and took no other refreshment than 
bread and water, that he might the more uninterruptedly pursue his 
labors.' " 

" The records of English jurisprudence contain scarcely a name more 
distinguished than that of Sir Mathew Hale. And it is the testtmony 
of history that " his decided piety and rigid temperance laid him open 
to the attacks of ridicule, but he could not be moved." In eating and 
drinking, he observed not only great plainness and moderation ; but 
lived so philosophically, that he always ended his meal with an appe- 
tite. 

Perhaps no man accomplishes more for the world than he who writes 
such a commentary on the Scriptures, as that Mathew Hale. And it is, 
indeed, an immense literary labor. But the biographer's account of 
writer's habits shows that temperance and diligence were the secret of 
his success." . 

'' Few men have accomplished more than John Wesley ; and it is 
gratifying to learn that it was extraordinary temperance which gave him 
the power to do so much, and to live so long." 

" In reading the works of Milton, we are not so much delighted with 
the play of imagination as with the rich and profound, though some- 
fimes exceedingly anomalous views, which he opens before us. The 
fact is, he was a man of powers, and attainments so great as justly to 
be classed among the leading intellects of this generation. Nor were 
such powers and attainments^disjoined from temperance." 

"Europe, as well as America, has been filled with the fiime of Frank- 
lin, and no less wide spread is the history of his temperance. Eearly 
in life, he adopted a vegetable diet ; and thus he not only gained time 
for study, but " 1 made the greater progress," says he, " from that 
greater clearness of head, and quickness of apprehension, which gener- 
ally attend temperance in eating and drinking." The habit of being con- 
tented with little, and disregarding the gratiffoations of the palate, re- 
mained with him through life " * * * * * 
What has been said in regard to education is applicable to both sex- 

es ' 

•''The/air sex ought just as much to cultivate the sciences, or at least 
such of them as appertain to a useful education, as we- who are of a 



31 

rougher cast. In all christian countries they do it ; they are not, as 
you are here, continually playing ruh, rub, rub, in the washing-tub, and at 
bang, banr/, hang, over the ironing table. Califoi-nia will not always be as 
you now see it. Think of this and tell me why not cease this wide dif- 
ference between you and your like on the other side of the land. Tell 
me why is this wide difference "? Are you poorer than they ? They, 
with all their heavy flimily cares find time to become thoroughly edu- 
cated, and in many instances, are known to carry off the prize that their 
husbands, poor geniuses, can never win. 

The more intelligent a woman is, the more she is respected, the more 
appreciated — and she has a better guard to shield her virtue from pollu- 
tion's sway. 

Do not believe that things can always exist as they now are here, in 
regard to your educational value. By and by, men will seek you, not 
for your money, but for the amount of common sense you are gifted 
with. I speak to the widow ladies. Your daughters having good, 
mother-wit, well cultivated, well know how to appreciate talent, discoun- 
tenance pretending fops, and win an honest man for his real worth. 

Here is an axiom ; that in all countries where men are reasonable, 
discerning, and educated, — great scholars, if not infatuated by the evil 
one, seek for the sharer of their cares and toils, a woman, as nearly as 
possible of the same congeniality as they can ; for such an one helps to 
comfort, and lightens the burden of life's weary pilgrimage. 

Now, a woman may be very beautiful to the view, respectable, and 
even as rich as a queen ; but without education, she is no companion 
for a scholar — she cannot sympathise with her husband. 

A woman maybe a good thrifty housewife, just as cunning as mother 
eve ; packed from the very crown of her head to the soles of her feet 
with pure raoi]\&c-ivit ; but if it be not modified by education — if filled 
with useless precepts, she cannot be anything but a perfect bore — con- 
tinually prattling about everything but her duty, because her mind is 
like chaos at the beginning of creation. 

Woman was never made to be the drudge of rapn. She is made 
with too fine feeling to be the rack horse of a lazy heap of human bones ; 
and the man who suffers himself to be fed and b"edded at his wife's ex- 
pense, is human but in form. The good, the kind, the generous-heart- 
ed wife, is worth more than her weight in gold ; for mid sorrows' try- 
ing storm, midst life's incumbent toil ; 'mid poverty, and Mhen life's 
last taper burns, the faithful woman ne'er succumbs, but with her ever 
watchful eye, looks upward, and bids the partner of her cares to hope 
for a future's dawn of sweet relief. Yes, woman, how great thy com- 
fort in affliction's morn; yet, how fearful are the charms — how hapless 
thy boon of love when vice triumphant reigns thy queen* * * 

Every man should adajit his studies to his inclination. If he wishes 
to be a merchant, let him understand well, spelling, reading, writing, 
geography and history. These branches will enable him to do any 
mercantile business. Comme ilfaut. 

If he wishes to be a statesman, let him with the aforesaid branches, 
study logic, chronology, jurisprudence, and above all, cultivate elo- 
quence, which is essentially his forte. 



32 
ELOQUENCE. 



" That I may not stand alone, in my views on the subject of general 
eloquence, I will give the language of those able statesmen of our coun- 
try, John Adams and Daniel Webster. Mr, Adams remarked : — Ox^a- 
tory, as it consists in the expression of the countenance, graces of atti- 
tude and motion, and intonation of voice although it is altogether su- 
perficial and ornamental, will always command admiration, yet, deserves 
little veneration. 

"Flashes of wit, corruscations of imagination and gay pictures, what 
are they ? Strict truth, vapid reason, a pure integrity, are the only es- 
sential ingredients in oratory. I flatter myself, that Demosthenes by 
his action, action, action, means to express the same opinion." 

Mr. Webster observes—" When public bodies are to be addressed 
on momentous occasions, when great interests are at stake and strong 
passions excited, nothing is valuable in speech farther than it is connected 
with high intellectual and moral endoAvments. Clearness, force, and 
earnestness are qualities that produce connection. 

" The graces taught in schools, the courtly ornaments and studied 
contrivances of speech, shock and disgust men when their own lives, and 
the lives of their wives and children hang on the decision of an hour. 
Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is in vain, and elaborate ora- 
tory contemptible. Then even genius feels rebuked and subdued as if 
in the presence of higher qualities. Then patriotism is eloquent — then 
self-devotion is eloquent." 

" Rhetoric as taught in our seminaries, and by itinerant elocutionists 
is one thing ; genuine, heart thrilling, soul-stirring eloquence is a very 
different thing. The one is like the rose in wax without odor ; the other 
like the rose on its native bush, perfuming the atmosphere with rich 
odors distilled from the dew of heaven." 

" The one is the finely finished statue of a Cicero or Demosthenes, 
more perfect in its liniaments than the original ; pleasing the eye and 
enrapturing the imagination ; the other is the living man animated by 
intellectual power, rousing the deepest feelings of every heart, and 
electrifying every soul as with vivid lightning. The one is a picture of 
the passions all on fire ; the other is the real conflagration ; pouring out 
a volume of words that burn like liquid flames bursting from the crater 
of a volcano. The one attracts the admiring gaze and tickles the fancy 
of an audiance ; the other sounds an alarm that vibrates through the 
tingling ears to the soul and drives back the rushing blood upon the 
aching heart. The one falls upon the multitude like April showers, 
glittering in the sunbeams, animating and bringing nature into mellow 
life ; the other rouses the same mass to deeds of noble daring, and im 
parts to it the terrific force of an avalanche." 

"The one moves the cerebral foliage in waves of recumbent beauty 
like a gentle wind passing over a prairie of tall grass and flowers : the 
other strikes a blow that resounds through the wilderness of mind, like 
rolling thunder through a forest of oaks. The one fails when strong 
commotions and angry elements agitate the public peace : the other can 
ride upon a whirlwind, direct the tornado and rule the storm." 



33 

ELOQUENCE, HISTORY AND LOGIC ARE THE REAUTIFUL 
IN POLITE LITERATURE. 

" The advantages found in history seem to be ot three kinds : it amus- 
es the fancy, improves the understanding, and strengthens virtue. In 
reality, what entertainment is there more agreeable to the mind than to 
be transported into the remotest ages of the world, and to observe hu- 
man society in its infancy, making the first faint essays towards the arts 
and sciences V 

" What is more pleasant than to see the policy of government and 
civility of conversation refining by degrees, and every thing that is or- 
namental to human life advancing toward perfection 1 — than to mark the 
rise and progress — declension and final extinction of the most flourish- 
ing empires ; the virtues which contribute to their greatness, and the vi- 
ces which drew on their ruin 1" 

" In short, to see all the human race from the beginning of time past, 
as it were in review before us appearing in their true colors without any 
of those disguises weich, during their life-time, so much perplex the judg- 
ment of the beholders, what spectacle can be imagined so magnificent, 
so various, so interesting." 

" What amusement, either of the senses or imagination, can be com- 
pared with it 1 Shall those trifling past times which engross so much of 
our time, be preferred as more satisfactory and more fit to engage our 
attention ? How perverse must that taste be, which is capable of so 
wrong a choice of pleasures !" 

" But history is a most improving part of knowledge, as well as an 
agreeable amusement ; and, indeed, a great part of what we commonly 
call education, and value so highly, is nothing but an acquaintance with 
historical facts. An extensive knowledge of this kind belongs to men 
of letters ; but I must think it unpardonable ignorance in persons of 
whatever sex or condition, not to be acquainted with the history of their 
own country along with the histories of Greece and Rome." 

" But I must add, that history is not only a valuable part of knowl- 
edge, but opens the door to many other parts of knowledge, and affords 
materials for most of the sciences, and. indeed, if we consider the short- 
ness of human life and our limited knowledge of what passes even in 
our own days, we must be sensible, that we should be forever children 
in understanding were it not for this invention which extends our expe- 
rience to all past ages and to the most distant nations ; making them con- 
tribute as much to our improvement in wisdom as if they had actually 
been under our observation." 

"A man acquainted with history may in some respects be said to have 
lived from the beginning of the world, and been making continual addi- 
tions to his stock of knowledge in every century." 

" There is also an advantage in knowledge which is acquired by 
history, above what is learnad by the practice of the world, that it 
brings us acquainted with human affairs, without diminishing in the least 
from the more delicate sentiments of virtue." 

" But I think it a remark worthy of the attention of the speculative 
reader, that the historians have been almost without exception the true 



34 

friends of virtue, and have always represented it in its proper colors 
however they may have erred in their judgments about particular per- 
sons. Nor is this combination of historians in favor of virtue at all dif- 
ficult to be accounted for." 

" History keeps in a just medium betwixt the extremes and places 
objects in their true point of view. The writers of history, as well as 
readers are sufficiently interested in the characters and events to have a 
lively sentiment of blame or praise ; and at the same time have no par- 
ticular interest or concern to pervert their judgment." 

If you have a taste for the abstractly sublime and laborious, study as- 
tronomy and mathematics ; and school yourself well in all the various 
sciences. Mathematics which is the science of quantity, however con- 
sidered, is the great aid to astronomy ; with its help we are able, as it 
were to weigh the universe in a balance ; find each star, sun or comet, 
motion or position for ages to come. Construct ships, build houses, 
level the highways, measure mountains of Himmaleh height, and cable 
the very ocean. Oh that you could know the wondrous secrets of this 
science of sciences. 

" The study of astronomy must have been coeval with the existence 
of man; for there is no natural being who has, for the fii-st time, lifted 
up his eyes to the nocturnal sky, and beheld the moon, walking in 
brightness, amid the planetary orlos and hosts of stars, but must have 
been struck with admiration and wonder at the splendid scene, and ex- 
cited to inquiries into the nature and destination of those far-distant 
orbs, compared with the splendor, the amplitude, the august motions, 
and the ideas of infinity, which the celestial vault presents, the roost 
resplendent terrestrial scenes sink into inanity, and appear unworthy of 
being set in competition with the glories of the sky." 

" When, on a clear autumnal evening, after sunset, we take a serious 
and attentive view of the celestial canopy ; when we behold the moon, 
displaying her brilliant crescent in the western sky ; the evening star, 
gilding the shades of night ; the planets, moving in their several orbs ; 
the stai:^, one after another, emerging from the ethereal blue, and gradu- 
ally lighting up the firmanent, till it appears all over sp mgled with a 
. brilliant assemblage of shining orbs; and, particularly, when we be- 
hold one cluster of stars gradually descending below the western ^^ori- 
zon, and other clusters eiTierging from the east, and ascending in unison 
the canopy of heaven ; when we contemplate the whole celestial vault, 
with all the shining orbs it contains, moving in silent grandeur, like one 
vast concave sphere around this lower world, and the place on which we 
stand, such a scene naturally leads a reflecting mind to such inquiries as 
these : Whence come those stars which are ascending in the east 1 — 
Whithf.T have those gone which have disappeared in the westl" 

" What becomes of the stars during the day, which are seen at night? 
Is the motion which appears in the celestial vault real, or does a juotion 
in the earth itself cause this appearance 1 What are those immense 
numbers of shining orbs which appear in every part of the sky ? Are 
they n\ere studs or tapers, fixed in the arch of heaven, or are they bod- 
ies of an immense size and splendor?" 

" Do they shine with borrowed light, or with their own native lus- 



I 35 

/ 
tre ? Are they placed only a few miles above the region of the clouds, 
or at immense distances beyond the range of human comprehension? 
Can their distance be ascertained ? Can their bulk be computed ? By 
what laws are these meteors regulated ? And what purposes are they 
destined to subserve in the great plan of the Universe '? These, and 
similar questions, it is the great object of astronomy to resolve, as far 
as human mind has been enabled to prosecute the path of discovery." 

In order to be a good theoretical and practical mechanic, a natural 
philosopher, a man must apply himself diligently to the study of natu- 
ral philosophy ; and understand well all the various properties of mat- 
ter — its extension, impenetrability, divisibility, porosity, compressibili- 
ty, indestructibility and attraction. 

lie must be very flimiliar with the laws of motion, centre of gravity, 
and the principles of machinei'y. 

He must understand hydrostatics, or the science of water, the pres- 
sure of fluids, specific gravity, motion of fluids, and all the wonderful 
properties combined in water. 

He must understand pneumatics, or the doctrine of the pressure of 
elastic fluids — their properties — the air-pump, common pump, syphon, 
barometer, condenser, fire-engine, steam and all its properties, and the 
steam-engine. 

He must be able to demonstrate the general objects of the science of 
me eorology, or the philosophy of the atmosphere; extent, density, and 
temperature of the atmosphere ; its relation to water, to heat, to 
fiery meteors. 

Acoui^tics, or the science of sound, is also his to demonstrate. Vibra- 
tory motion, velocity of sound, reflexion of sound, musical sounds, 
acoustic, or sound tubes, stethescope. 

Electricity is the seventh science with which he must be familiar — 
It treats of conductors and non-conductors, attractions and repulsions, 
electrical machines. Ley den jar, electric light and heat, thunder-storms, 
lightning-rods, and the efllicts of electricity. 

Then he must know everything respecting magnetism — of its at- 
tractive and directive properties ; variation of the compass, the 
needle, and its rectification for its dip, and the ruodes of making magnets. 

And, to conclude his apprenticeship, he ought to be a goo^l optician, 
knowing everything respecting the theory of light — its reflexion ancl 
refraction — of colors, vision, the microscope and telescope. 

This is the duty of one who wishes to be a natural philosopher, and 
a master-mechanic. 

Whoever has a taste for the beaatiful, alone, and nr.t the really U'^efid, 
should confine himself strictly to the fine arts : music, painting, draw- 
ing, sculpture, and poetry. Such an one should do nothing else as re- 
gards educatmg himself ; for, with a dislike fi)r the useful, he cannot be- 
come scientific, and, therefore, he would make a bad workman should 
he enter the workshop of science. But mind, that in order to become 
a proficient, worth notoriety, in any one of the aforesaid branches, you 
must, and have to labor in just the same way as you would to get any 
other education, hence it is cheaper to pri'fer the usefiil to the agreeable. 

I do not say we must not cultivate a taste for the beautiful ; for, if 



36 

we reflect, " in looking at our nature, we discover among its admirable 
endowments, the sense, or perception, of beautj. We see the germs 
of this in every human being, and there is no power which admits of 
greater cultivation — and why should it not be cherished by all ? It de- 
serves remark, that the provision of this principle is infinite in the 
Universe." 

There is but a very minute portion of the creation which we can turn 
into food and clothes, or the gratification of the body, but the whole cre- 
ation, may be used to minister to the sense of beauty — beauty is an all 
pervading presence. It unfodls the numberless flowers of the spring. — 
It waves in the branches of the trees and blades of grass. It haunts 
the depths of the earth and sea ; and gleams out in the hues of the 
shell and the precious stone." 

"And not only these minute objects, but the ocean, the mountains, — 
the clouds, the heavens, the stars, the rising and the setting sun, all 
overflow with beauty. The Universe is its temple, and those men who 
are alive to it, cannot lift their eyes without feeling themselves encom- 
passed with it on every side." 

" Now this beauty is so precious, the enjoyments it gives are so re- 
fined and pure, so congenial with our tenderest and noblest feelings, and 
so akin to worship, that it is painful to think of the multitude of men 
living in the midst of it, almost as blind to it, as if, instead of fair earth, 
and glorious sky, they were living in a dungeon. An infinite joy is lost 
to the world by the want of culture of this spiritual endowment." 

" Suppose I were to visit a cottage, and to see the walls lined with 
the choicest pictures of Rafael and every spare nook filled with statues 
of the most exquisite workmanship, and that I were to learn that neither 
man, woman nor child, ever cast an eye at these miracles of art, how 
should I feel their privation. How should I want to open their eyes 
and to help them to comprehend and feel the loveliness and grandeur 
which in vain courted their notice." 

" But, every husbandman is living in sight of the works of a Divine 
artist ; and how much would his existence be elevated, could he see the 
glory which shines forth, in their forms, hues, proportions and moral ex- 
pression ! 

I have spoken only of the beauty of Nature ; but how much of this 
mysterious charm is found in the elegant arts, and especially in litera- 
ture ? The best books have most beauty. The greatest truths are 
wronged if not linked with beauty, and they win their way most surely 
and deeply into the soul when arrayed in this then Natural and fit 
attire." * 

" Now, no man receives tlie true culture of a man, in whom the sen- 
sibility to the beautiful is not cherished ; and I know of no condition 
in life from which it should be excluded. Of all luxuries, this is the 
cheapest and most at hand." 

" What beauty is, is a question which the most penetrating minds 
have not satisfixctorily answered ; nor, were I able, is this the place for 
discussing it. But, one thing I would say : the beauty of the outward 
creation is intimately related to the lovely, grand, interesting attributes 
of the soul." 



8T 

** There is another power which man should cultivate according to his 
ability, but which is very much neglected in the mass of people, and 
that is the power of utterance. A man -was not made to shut up his 
mind to himself ; but to give it voice, and to exchange it for other 
minds. Speech is one of our grand distinctions from the brute." 

" Our power over others lies not so much in the amount of thought 
within us, as in the power of bringing it out. A man of more than or- 
dinary intellectual vigor, may, for want of expression, be a cipher, 
without significance in society ; and not only does a man influence oth- 
ers, but he greatly aids his own intellect by giving distinct and forcible 
utterance to his thoughts." 

" We understand ourselves better, our conceptions grow clearer by 
every effort to make them clear to another. Our social rank, too, de- 
pends a good deal on our power of utterance. The principal distinc- 
tion between what are called gentlemen and the vulgar, lies in thi^ ; 
that the latter are awkward in manners, and are essentially wanting in 
propriety, clearness, grace, and force of utterance." 

" A man who cannot open his lips without breaking a rule of gram- 
mar, without showing in his dialect, or brogue, or uncouth tones, his 
want of cultivation, or without darkening his meaning by a confused, 
unskillful mode of communication, cannot take the place to which his 
native good sense entitles him. To have intercourse with respectable 
people, we must speak their language." 

ARTS. 



" It is often said that the arts cannot flourish in a Republic ; and this 
is said in the face of such examples as Athens and republican Rome. — 
But why can they not ? I ask if want of patronage is the reason 
usually assigned; but let there be intelligence and refinements among 
a people, and the patronage of the arts must follow ; and is it not safer 
thus to trust the encouragement of the arts to the intelligence and free 
competition of a whole people, than to a few individuals, kings or 
princes 1 

" Would not a generous artist rather take an intelligent people for 
his patron, than a king ? May not the fine arts, in this respect, be sub- 
jected to the same ordeal as literature-? We have wealth enough, we 
have intelligence in America, and I am willing to rely upon these for 
the inevitable consequence." 

"It would be sad, indeed, if the allegation were true that the arts 
could not flourish in a republic. For it is precisely in a republic that 
they are wanted to complete the system of social influences. It is a 
mistake into which novices fall — suppose that the arts are unfavorable 
to morality. In fact, the fine arts have usually been the handmaids of 
virtue and religion. More than half of the great paintings in the 
world are illustrative of religious subjects ; and embracing mythology, 
in this account more than haif the statues are of the same character." 

" And to refer to kindred arts, architecture, too, has built its noblest 
structures for religion, and music has composed its sublimest strains 
for the sanctuary. Genius, indeed, that inspiration from heaven, has al- 



ways shown its descent from above by this direction of its labors. The 
introduction of the arts into our country, then, is not to be dreaded on 
the score of morality. Is it not on every account gr^-atly to be desir- 
ed ? The most material deficiency among us, perhaps next to the want 
of virtue, is likely to be the want of refinement." 

"There is need among us of objects that kindle up admiration and en- 
thusiasm ; that awaken the sense of delight and wonder ; that break up 
the habits of petty calculation and sordid interest, and breathe a liberal 
and generous soul into the people ; and this need, the arts would sup- 
ply. The author of nature has shown that it was not beneath his care 
to provide for the gratification of sentiments precisely similar to those 
which are addressed by the arts." 

" The world, composed of hill and dale, mountain and valley ; not 
one boundless plowed field to yield food ; dressed in gay and bright 
liveries, not in one somber suited color ; filled with the music of its 
streams and groves, not doomed to endless monotony or everlasting 
silence. Such a world, the dwelling of nations, the school of their dis- 
cipline the temple of their worship, plainly shows that they were not 
destined to be pupils of cold and stern utility alone, but of many and 
diversified influences ; of gracefulness ; of elegance, benificence, beau- 
ty and sublimity." 

" Poetry, of all the Arts, to ns seems most divine ; 

for it is the breathing or expression of that principle or sentiment 
which is deepest and most sublime in human nature, we mean of that 
thirst or aspiration to which no mind is wholly a stranger for something 
purer and lovlier, something more powerful, lofty and thrilling, than 
ordinary and real life affords." 

" In an intellectual nature, framed for progress and for higher modes 
of being there must be creative energies, powers of original and even 
growing thought, and poetry is the form in which these energies are 
chiefly manifested. It is the glorious prerogative of this art, that it 
' makes all things new,' for the gratification of a divine instinct. 

We accordingly believe that poetry, far from injuring society, is one 
of the great instruments of its refinement and exaltation. It lifts the 
mind above ordinary life gives it a respite from depressing cares, and 
awakens the consciousness of its affinity with what is pure and noble." 

"In its legitimate and highest efforts it has the same tendency and 
aim with Christianity that is to spiritualize our nature. True poetry 
has been made the instrument of vice, the pander of bad passions ; but 
when genius thus stoops it dims its fires, and parts with much of its 
power ; and, even when poetry is enslaved to licentiousness and misan- 
thropy, she cannot wholly forget her true vocation." 

" Strains of pure feeling, touches of tenderness, images of innocent 
happiness, sympathies with what is good in our nature, bursts of scorn 
or indigi)ation at the hollowness of the world, passages true to our moral 
nature, 6ften escape an immoral Avork and show how hard it is for a 
gifted spirit to divorce itself wholly from what is good. Poetry has a 
natural alliance with our best affections. It delights m the beauty and 
sublimxty of outward nature and of soul." 



39 



"It indeed portrays with terrible energy the excesses of the passions, 
brt they are passions which show a mighty nature, which are full of 
power, which command awe, and excite deep though shuddering sym- 
pathy. Its great tendency and purposes, to carry the mind beyond and 
above the beaten, dusty, weary walks of ordinary life ; to lift it into a 
purer element, to breathe into it more profound and generous emotion. 

" It reveals to us the loveliness of nature ; brings back the freshness 
of youthful feeling ; revives the relish for simple plettsures ; keeps un- 
quenched the enthusiasm which warmed the spring-time of our being; 
refines youthful love ; strengthens our interest in human nature by vivid 
delineations of its tenderaess and loftiest feelings ; spreads our sympa- 
tties over all classes of society ; knits us by new ties, with universal 
being ; and, through the brightness of its prophetic visions helps faith 
to lay hold on future life." 

Hence the sublimity of poetry ; the gracefulnees of sculpture; the 
beauties of painting and the melody of music all are useful when prop- 
erly appreciated, not as things upon wdiich we are to waste our precious 
time, to be wholly absorbed in them, leaving our incumbent and more 
immediate duties to seek their own welfare. 

These were given to us by our'Maker as enjoyments to be properly 
appreciated, and if we do so we show our gratefulness to him who has 
given us that wdiich the brute has not. 



1. When from the ^acred garden driven, 

Slan fled before his M:ilcers wrath — ■ 
An angel left her place in Heaven, 
And crossed the wanderer's sunless path. 

2. Twasart! Sweet Art new radiencobro't 

Where her light foot flew o'er the ground, 
And thus with seraph voice she spoke, 
The curse a blessing sliall be found. 

3. She led him through the trackless wild, 

Where noontide's sunbeams never blaze, 



The thistle shrunk, the harvest smiled, 
And nature gladdened as she gazed. 

4. Earth's thousand tribes of living things 

At Art's command to him are given ; 
The village grows, the city springs, 
And point their spires of faith to Ueaven. 

5. In fields of air he writes his name, 

And treads the chambers of the sky; 
He reads the stars ami grasps the flame 
That quivers round the throne on high. 



* 



* 



* 



We have now taken a cursory view of knowledge. We have seen 
the means by which it is to be obtained, and we shall now say a few 
words in regard to its application to ourselves ; but, before we begin 
this subject let me say, that we must remember that, in all our search- 
ing for it, in all our getting, let us remember the Bible, a clear under- 
standing of one single sentence of its sublime truths is worth more 
than all the knowledge that science can unfold. Yes, worth more than 
Newton knew. 

" The highest eulogy that we can pronounce upon this book of books 
is, to take it for the man of our counsel, and the pole-star of onr lives ; 
not merely to admit and laud its superior excellency, and let it remain 
on the shelf until anathema maranatha, can be written in the dust upon 
its lids ^and criminally neglecting to aid in giving it to the millions who 
are groping in heathen darkness." 

" Divine in its origin, written by the pen of inspiration, dipped in the 
burning indignation of God against the wicked on one hand, and in the 
melting fountain of his love for the good, on the other ; the sublimity 



40 

of its language caps the climax of rhetoric ; as a history of that grand 
epoch, when God said, ' Let there be light, and there was light.' It 
stands alone clothed in the Majesty of Divinity !" 

" As a chronicle of the creation of man after the moral image of De- 
ity, of his ruinous fall, and of his subsequent mad career, it must remain 
unrivalled. As a chart of human nature, and of human rights and 
wrongs, and of the character of the great Jehovah, its delineations, in 
precision, fullness and force of description, far exceed the boldest 
strokes and finest touches of the master-spirits of every age and clime." 

" As a system of morals and religion, every effort of man to add to 
its transcendent, beauty or omnipotent strength is presumption, and as 
vain as an attempt to bind the wind, or imprison the ocean. As a book 
of poetry and eloquence, it stands in lofty grandeur towering above the 
noblest productions of the most brilliant talents that have illumined 
and enraptured the classic world." 

" As a book of revelation, it shed a flood of light upon the wilderness 
of mind, that added fresh lustre and refulgence to those of reason, phi- 
losophy, and science, which had guided mankind to that auspicious, glo- 
rious era, when it burst upon the astonished world. As a book of coun- 
sel, its wisdom is profound, boundless, infinite. It meets every case in 
time, and is the golden chain that reaches from earth to heaven." 

" It teaches us our native dignity, the design of our creation, the du- 
ties we owe to our God, to ourselves, our families, our parents, our 
children, and our fellow-men." 

It arms the Christian in panoply complete ; snatches from death its 
poisoned sting, from the grave its boasted victory, and points the soul to 
its crowning glory, a blessed immortality beyond the skies." 

This is the Bible, and now let us see what is our duty to ourselves. 

In the first place, I say it is absolutely binding upon us to get knowl- 
edge — all the knowledge we can attain to ; our Maker expects us to do 
so; and I cannot see what more proof we want than that in the Divine 
Writ, which says that each of lis is made but a very little lower than the 
angels. '^ 

We have this duty to perform in order to do justice to God 
our Common Father, and, at the same time, benefit ourselves. He will 
require his talent from each one of us with usiny. You think and say, 
the less you know the less will be required of you. Undeceive your- 
selves. Your Maker says, crush not the germ ; stifle not reason. 

Our Father in Heaven has no respect to color. If you will not im- 
prove your talent, because your are black, and cannot aspire to an equal- 
ity with the white, it will be but a poor reason to give God. If this be 
your reason — if you stop short because the white man says no ; never- 
theless. He who knows no No, expects a good account of your steward- 
ship. The truth is, the white man is doing nothing to you. It is you 
who are doing harm to yourselves. Reflect a moment, and see if this 
is not the truest expression that I have ever uttered in all my life. — 
God never made one man to be the dupe of another. 

ORGANIZATION. 

We are not differently, mentally or physically, constituted from the 
white. We are a race distinct in color, but made by the same hand 



41 

that made the white. We differ from him only on account of his supe- 
riority in knowledge. 

It has been discussed and re-discussed, and the proof has been plainly 
elicited in the positive, that we are men. This is the conclusion of the 
greatest and wisest anatomists of the present age, and it is also the 
cleclaration of the Divine Being. 

Therefore, the organic structure of the black being the same as that 
of the white, he is physically the latter's equal, and he may be intel- 
lectually so. 

In theory, I am aware that this is generally denied by the white ; but, 
in practice, it is evidently asserted by him. 

. To prove the latter assertion clearly, we see that in any case, where 
the black is to be punished for offences against the white, or against the 
community in general, he is made to undergo the same class of punish- 
ments due to the white, who may commit the same crime for which the 
black is arraigned. In plain, the laws instituted by the white to coerce 
his fellow white ai-e used to afflict the black. Now, why not have differ- 
ent forms of punishment, a punishment coincident with the black organ- 
ization '? Here the white man's theory falls to the ground, a baseless 
fabric; and falling, we save from the ruins the palpable evidences. That 
he believes that the black man can be made to and does sutler the same 
pain, has the same sympathy, and same love of country, as the white 
man himself. This last assertion is a California flict, which we have 
seen fully exemplified in the case of the antiemigrationists. I do not 
wish to excite any emigration feelings. I merely recur to the example, 
by way of exposition. Every man has his hobby. 

But to return. I say, then, the white man practically admits the 
mental equality of the black, by the fact that, when the white requires 
the aid of the latter, as an accessory to any work or occupation, the 
former reasons with j;iim in the same way as it black were white. 

The black's organization must be the same, from the fact that he is 
affected by the same diseases, and his sickness is modified by the same 
circumstances. 

Thus we see that the white practically admits our equality, notwith- 
standing all his theoretical sophisms. What'more do we want 1 

This last assertion issues from the point that ought to be assumed as 
the point upon which your future position is to be determined in the 
world. It sets aside your old established notions of retrogressive pro- 
gress, that your advancement is deterred because of your physical and 
mental inferiority to the white. We are equal to him in all save the 
cultivated mind ; therefore, we have need of improvement, intellectu- 
ally, to compete with him artificially. 

We were not made to be governed by him — we Avere not made to 
be subject to him. We were made free moral agents — made that each 
and every one might govern himself, give an account of himself, and 
suffer for himself and not for each other. 

Now, I say to you, if we cannot be moved by our own necessity, let 
us be moved by example. Let us take a view of the unparalleled pro- 
gress made by the white man of this century. It ought to awaken 
our desire, and excite our attention to equal him, at every cost, 



43> 

so that he may see, beyond a doubt or chance of denial — that he may 
see, as m a mirror, clearly — that, though he is skillful in finding out the 
hidden secre'^s of nature and detecting sophistry by the fineness and 
clearness of his reasoning, that we also are fully able to meet him 
halfway — appreciate, understand, and demonstrate faithfully to him 
the little intricacies of his daily life. 

Why shall we, of this State, not seek this equality, that shall enable 
us to come out triumphant ? 

It is not necessary for me to expatiate on the progress made within 
the last thirty years, by our brethren in the North Atlantic States. In 
the theory and practice of education, and moral reform, i-reat has been 
their progress. But I must say, there is a great lack of both among us. 

The moral and educational difference between the rising genertion 
and that of our forefathers, is very great. We cannot but admit that 
every generation decreases bodily, in proportion to its increa-se in 
wisdom ! 

. There was much more morality with the latter, and but little educa- 
tion, whilst, with us, it ha^ been different. With us, morality is a harp 
that every man touches to the tune of a thousand discordant sounds. 

We, as a people, in this State, have no enterprise in comparison with 
those in the Atlantic cities. It is true, there are, among us a few busi- 
ness men, struggling against the tide upon their own raft : but the 
greater portion of us occ ipy menial positions. 

We met in Sacramento, last year, and drew up a packing-box full of 
resolutions relative to our general welfare ; but, as I have never seen 
" any good come out of Nazareth," I conclude they must have died very 
suddenly — perhaps, in their infancy — r,ot four-and twenty hours old. — 
We are notorious for beginning with the never-ending machine ! 

The white man has a right to say all he does about us. We are con- 
tinually encouraging him to wrong us. He is sicl^of us. He does not 
want us to be following him wherever he goes. He did not ask us to 
follow him to California. After he had killed the Indian and the wild 
bear, here come we. I don't know but we got it down right that time. 
1 believe we are naturally afraid of old grizzly ! After he has secured 
all the land and tilled it, and, very rightly now reaping the reward of 
his toil, here come we : Brother, where is my share? Adams & Co. 
have it. So you see you got it down wrong that time. Next mail I'll 
send it to you through the post, Eh ! 

He asks us to go to Sonora and clear the way for him, (it's our turn 
now, )and if we get nicely settled there and dont want him to be afoller- 
i/i' tis — keep him away. 

Oh no brother, can't do that ; can't emigrate. But how did you get 
here ? Oh pshaw, we did'nt emigrate ; we only migrated ! que bueno ! 
No indeed honey, I did'nt emigrate. \]\xst veni, vidi., vicL What au- 
dacity ! After being fortified by sloth nearly two hundred years we 
have the impudence to get angry when we are told that we are not 
worth our salt. What do you want the world to say 1 To flatter you? 
Will, you make people take an affidavit of your being awake when you 
are asleep, run along, and see if it don't come true that you really are 
so sure enough. Let me tell you that to flatter you, is to do you an 



43 

injustice — the only and best thing that you can do is to study the white 
man and see how he has gained his influence over you ; — only by his 
superiority in the progress oHiis knowledge — be wise in time and tnke 
this matter into deep consideration. We must study the character of 
this Mr. Influence. Yes we must study the influence of 

Superior Minds, that we may Shake off our Inertness. 

" It belongs to cultivated men to construct and put in motion, and di- 
vide the complex machmery of civil society. Who originated these 
free insliiutions, the arteries through which the life blood of our coun- 
try's prosperity circulates. Who built aud rocked the cradle of Ainer- 
can liberty and guarded the infant angel, until she walked forth in the 
vigor of a glorious maturity ? Whom do we welcome to the helm of 
state, when the storm of faction beats, or dark clouds hang about the 
heavens'? Who speak trumpet-tongued to a nation's rights? Who 
holds the scales of equity measuring out a portion both to the just and 
Unjust? Are they men who have been nursed in the lap of ignorance, 
or are they not rather your great and cultivated minds ; your Frank- 
lin's, Madison's and Adams's ; and your Kent's, Spencer's and Story's 1 

" And then again, who framed that social system, if system it could 
be called, which exploded in the horrors of the French revolution ; spor- 
ting with times hallowed associations and unsealing all the fountains of 
blood 1 Think you that ignorance was the presiding genius in that 
war of elements 1 Oh no ; the master spirits had, many of them been 
known as standard bearers in the Empire of letters ; they partook of 
at once the str.ngth of the angel and the depravity of the fiend ; and, as 
in these opposite cases that 1 have mentioned, so it is always every 
where ; men with cultivated minds will ultimately have the power 
whether they use it in the sport of a lofty patriotism or pervert it to do 
homage to faction and tear society in pieces." 

Hence we have seen the power of superior minds — how it effects a 
people : it either perverts or ameliorates their condition : we have seen 
that the leading elements of a prosperous condition is wisdom ; hence WQ 
have the basis of all power and moral worth. T) 

LITERARY MEN HAVE A DUTY TO PERFORM TO THEIR 

COUNTRY. 

" We cannot honor our country with too deep a reverence ; we can- 
not love her with an affection too pure and fervent ; we cannot serve 
her with an energy of purpose or faithfulness of zeal too steadfast and 
ardent." And what is our country ? Is it not the East with her mills 
and her valleys, — with her countless sails, and the rocky ramparts of 
her shores ? Is it not the north with her thousand villages and her 
harvest home, with her frontiers of ihe lake and ocean." 

" Is it not the West, with her forest sea and her inland isles with her 
luxuriant expanses, clothed in the verdant corn, with her beautiful Ohio, 
and her majestic Missouri? Nor is it yet the South, opulent in mimic 
show of the cotton, in the rich plantations of the rustling cane and in 
the golden robes of the rice field. What are these but the sister fami 
lies of one great, better, holier family — our country. I came not here 
to speak the dialect, or to give the counsels of the patriot statesman. 



44 

" I come a patriot scholar to indicate the rights and to plead for the 
interests of Americnu literature, and be assured, that we cannot, as pa- 
triotic scholars think to highly of that country, or sacrifice too much 
for her, and let us never forget ; let us rather remember with a reli- 
gious awe, that the union of these States is as indispensable to our lit- 
erature as it is to our national happiness, independence and civil liber- 
ties, to our prosperity, and improvement." 

" If, indeed, we desire to behold a literature like that which has sculp- 
tured, with such energy of expression, which has painted so faithfully 
and vividly the crimes, the vices, the follies of ancient and modern Eu- 
rope ; if we desire that our land should furnish for the orator and the 
novelist, for the painter and the poet, age after age, the Avild and ro- 
mantic scenery of war ; the glittering march of arinies and the revel- 
ry of the camp ; the shrieks and blasphemies and all the horrors of 
the battle-field, the devastation of the harvest and the burning cottage ; 
the storm, the sack, and the ruin of cities ; if we desire to uuchain the 
furious passions of jealousy and selfishness, of hatred, revenge, and am- 
bition, those lions that now sleep harmless in their den ; if we desire 
that the lake, the river, the ocean should blush with the blood of broth- 
ers ; if we desire that these and such as these, the elements, to an in- 
credible extent, of the literature of the old world, should be the ele- 
ments of our literature ; then, but then only, let us hurl from its pe- 
destal the majestic statue of our union, and scatter its fragments over 
all our land." 

" But if we covet for our country the noblest, the purest, lovliest lit- 
erature the world has ever seen, such a literature as shall honor God, 
and bless mankind; a literature whose smiles might play upon an an- 
gel's face, whose tears " would not stain an angel's cheek ;" then let 
us cling to the union of these States with a patriot's love, with a schol- 
ar's enthusiasm, with a Christian's hope. In her heavenly character, 
as a holo-caust self-sacrificed to God ; at the height of her glory as the 
ornament of a free, educated, peaceful, christian people. American lit- 
erature will find that the intellectual spirit is her very tree of life, and 
that among her garden of paradise." 

■ We see then, that the duty of literary men to their country is very 
great, and as they send forth their doctrines to guide the masses, they 
should be careful to think rightly and act wisely for the public good. 
' Upon each one of us devolves the duty to be a good citizen, there- 
fore, " Let the sacred obligations Avhjch have devolved on this genera- 
tion and on us, sink deep into our hearts. Those are daily dropping 
from us, who established our liberty and our government. The great 
trust row descends to new hands. Let us appl}'' ourselves to that 
which is presented to us as our^appropriate object." 

" We can Avin no laurels in a war for independence. Earlier and 
worthier hands have gathered them all. Nor are there places for us 
by the side of Solon, and Alfred and other founders of States. Our 
fathers have filled them. But there remains to us a great duty of de- 
fence and preservation ; and there is opened to us also a noble pursuit 
to which the spirit of the times strongly invites us." 

" Our proper business is improvement. Let our age be the age of 



45 

improvement. In a day of peace, let us advance the arts of peace and 
the works of peace. Let us develop the resources of our land — call 
forth its powers — build up its institutions — promote all its great inter- 
ests, and see whether we, also, in our day and generation, may not per- 
form something worthy to be remembered. Let us cultivate a true 
spirit of union and harmony. In pursuing the great objects which oar 
condition points out to us, let us act under a settled conviction and an 
habitual feeling that these thirty-one States are our country." 

" Let our conceptions be enlarged to the circle of our duties. Let us 
extend our ideas over the whole of the vast field in which we are called 
to act. Let our object be, our country, our whole country, and nothing 
but our country. And by the blessing of God, may that country itself 
become a vast and splendid monument ; not of oppression and terror 
but of wisdom, of peace and of liberty, upon which the world may 
gaze with admiration forever." 

In order to be a good citizen, we must remember that decisive in- 
tegrity is one of the constituent elements of civil society. 

"The man who is so conscious of the rectitude of his intentions as to 
be willing to open his bosom to the inspection of the world, is in pos- 
session ot one of the strongest pillars of a decided character. The 
course of such a man will be firm and steady, because he has nothinf to 
fear from the world, and is sure of the approbation and support of hea- 
ven ; while he who is conscious of secret and dark designs which if 
known would blast him, is perpetuallv shrinking and dodging from pub- 
lic observation, and is afraid of all around, and much more of all above 
him." 

" Such a man may, indeed, pursue his iniquitous plans steadily ; he 
may, waste himself to a skeleton in the guilty pursuits, but it is impos- 
sible that he can pursue them with the same health-inspiring confidence 
and exciting alacrity with him who feels at every step that he is in the 
pursuit of honest ends by honest means. The clear unclouded brow 
the open countenance, the brilliant eye which can look an honest man 
steadfastly, yet courteously, in the face, the healthfully bcatinw heart 
and the firm elastic step, belong to him who knows that all his motives 
and purposes are pure and right." 

" Why should such a man falter in his course 1 He may be slandered* 
he may be deserted by the world ; but he has that within which will 
keep him erect, and enable him to move onward in his course, with his 
eyes fixed on heaven, which he knows will not desert him." 

" Let your first step, then, in that discipline which is to give you de- 
cision of character, be the heroic determination to be honest men and 
to preserve the character through every vicissitude of fortune and in 
every relation which connects you with ..society. I do not use 4,he 
phrase '• honest men " in the narrow ^ise merely of meetino- your 
pecuniary engagements, and paying your debts; for this, the common 
pride of every gentleman will constrain you to do." 

" I use it in its larger sense of discharging all your duties both pub- 
lic and private, both open and secret, with the most scrupulous hea- 
ven-attesting integrity ; in that sense, fiirther, -which drives from the 
bosom all little, dark, crooked, sordid, debasing considerations of self 



46 

and substitutes in their place, a bolder, loftier and nobler spirit; one 
that will dispose you to consider yourselves as born not so much for 
sel f, as for your country and yonr fellow-creatures, and which will 
lead you to act on every occasion, sincerely, justly, generously, mag- 
nanimously." * * * * * * * 

It is indeed true that we as a people have no national character 1 — 
We had in ages past, but alas I fear it is forever lost! 

"• The loss of a firm national character, or the degradation of a nation's 
honor is the inevitable prelude to her destruction. Behold the once 
proud fabric ot a Roman Empire"; an Empire recarrying its arts and 
arms into every part of the eastern continent ; the monarehs of mighty 
kingdoms dragged at the wheels of her triumphal chariots; her eagle 
waving over tlie ruins of desolated countries. Where is her splendor, 
her wealth, her power, her glory '? Extiiigished forever." 

"Her mouldering temples, the vestages of her former grandeur, af- 
fords a shelter to her muttering Monks. Where are her statesmen, her 
sages, her philosophers, her orators, her generals? Goto their solitary 
tombs and enquire. She lost her national character, and her destruc- 
tion followed. The ramparts of her national pride were broken 
ken down, and Vandalism desolated her classic fields." 

" Place their example before you. Let the sp.irk of their veteran 
wisdom flash across your minds, aud the sacred altars of your liber ly 
crowned with immortal honors, rise before you. Relying on the vir- 
tue, the courage, the patriotism ai d the strength of our country, we 
may expect our national character will be more energetic; our citizens 
more enlightened, and may hail the age as not far distant when will 
be heard, as the proudest exclamation of a man — I am an African . 

THE DUTY OF THIS COUNTRY TO US IS VERY GREAT. 

We are its sons and daughters ; we are not foreigners. We ought 
to be cherished by our common mother ; But no — Need we hope so 
much ? She cares not for us. She will net own us. She will not grant 
the right ; though we are her first-born. She has taken to her bosom 
the stranger's child, and given our heritage unto him ! Oh my mother, 
I tremble for thy fate ! thou art deceived. In thy days of sorrow, as 
age doth gently twine his golden chain around thee, when thy adopted 
children, fed by our hand and clad by our toil, shall leave the lonely 
and weary to wander o'er the ruins of Rome and Babylon, once like 
the proud empires of the world — then wilt thou think with deep re 
gret o'er all the wrongs and sufferings, heaped by thee, on those who 
cherished and wept o'er thee when thou didst weep, and watched thee 
through poverty's trying time, , and raised thee to the pinacle of thy 
high renown from whence thou art falling. Yes thou wilt not — canst 
not then f II gft thy Negro chj^d. ****** 

And now friends and countrymen where'er ye are upon this favored 
soil, let me win you to wisdom's ways — " ways of pleasantness and 
paths of peace." Let me deeply impress upon your minds the value of 
knowledge. How many of you are there who this very moment feel 
the real necessity for it. 

Knowing this and feeling it so forcibly and so keenly yourselves, 
think ot your liitle ones, and let no opportunity slip to educate them. 



47 

Lay aside, for God's sake, for their sake, your foolish prejudices in re- 
gard to teachers — why shall your animosities be their degradation 1 — 
Prejudice makes us fools — it knows no bounds : do not cherish it any 
longer — do you not see to what it is bringing us? It blinds us to our 
real necessities. Send your children to whatever school there may be 
fos them, though scanty its means, better let them get a little if not as 
much as you really desire. When they are at school, they must neces- 
sarily imbibe some of the principles of knowledge intuitively, 
which, when they shall become of a thinking turn, will enable them 
to fix their attention advantageously ; and also enable them to make 
rapid progress. The old saying " better is a half loaf than no bread," 
can never be applied more seriously than in this present instance. Em- 
brace every <pportunity to give them a knowledge of the path to wis- 
dom, virtue and religion. Tell them that in order to become scholars 
they must not think that because they do not learn all to-day they 
never will know anything. But tell them, that say the world what it 
may, we respect riches, but that it does not and never can hold the 
superiority over wisdom. Wisdom teaches us to get dollars ; but dol- 
lars never taught men to get wisdom. 

Say to your sons that, in order to be respected by England, honored 
by France, and feared by the United States, they must get wisdom_. 

Tell your daughters that knowledge is not passing ; but that beauty 
fades away. 

Let us help them to get knowledge. I now advocate their cause. — 
Four thousand Colored people in this State ! and yet, we cannot have 
a single acre of ground to build a school-house we can call our own, wor- 
thy of so rich a Colored population as is in California. By-and-by, 
when the State shall overflow M-ith yoxir little ones, you will be sorry 
that you have prepared for them no more than primary progress. — By- 
and-by, when yovir " white brother" shall have taken up every site and 
piece of land calculated for an Oberlin, then you will begin to think of 
buying from him at such a rate that it will require your united contri- 
butions for fifty years to come, in order to pay off the debt, and get a 
clear title to your own. There is one thing certain you must do, if you 
ever wish to become enlightened, encourage God's servants. I am re- 
ally astonished to know that, in this State, where gold is found to over- 
flowing — where you have churches, just for the sake of saying thi-y ire 
yours — ^just for the sake of boasting that you are Christians, God-seek- 
in<T people — I say I am astonished, that I am obliged to preach to you 
in behalf of your ministers' welfare. Do you think that they can live 
upon the winds. Do you think they ought to preach for nothing? — 
Must they not eat, and drink, and support their families decently. — 
Does their education cost them nothing ? Must they not stud\ , in or- 
der to be able to teach you. Ought a minister to be a working man ? 
Weigh these questions, and say, if they do not deserve a subsistence at 
your I ands. Encourage them, I say, encourage them that they may la- 
bor for you as become men of God. Do not make them rich men, but 
let them live. Five dollars a month for preaching three times a day ! 
For .-hame ! Unless you do support and encourage literary men among 
you, depend upon it, you will never know anything more at the day 



49' 

of your death than you do now. Who shall watch over your welfare, 
if it is not the church, and well-educated men ? 

Thank God, the people, in some parts, begin to appreciate the value 
of knowledge. Thank God, the people — a small portion — in this the 
Bay City, are awakening to a sense tf their utter degradation. And I 
say, in their behalf, that we mean to see if we cannot, this year to 
come, rise superior to every difficulty, Avhich has heretofore been a 
stumbling-block to our improvement. 

We do not mean to encourage any longer a sham elevation, "We are 
actually down on this " all talk and no cider" scheme, and with the 
help of gospel teachings and literary talent, we mean to defy the tri- 
umphs of Know-Nothing Democracy. Hear Avhat I say, " That every 
man to be a Reformer, must be an honest, non-selfish, virtuous man, 
and thai, any other cannot be, and is not fit to be, a leader of morality 
and enlightenment. 

In regard to a school, I tell you now is the time. Secure the land, 
and build you a literary institute, and I can assure you that you will, 
. with no trouble, find those who will put within its walls everything ne- 
cessary to the commencement and accomplishment of a thorough educa- 
tion for the rising generation of tawny youths. 

But I suppose I am talking in vain. You may as well dig, and leave ' 
them heaps of gold, Avhich is better than wisdom ! Yes, so says Solo- 
mon ! — but backwards ! 

You say, what matters it, whether they be born free and intelligent, 
or not, so long as they are rich. You will find that out by-and-by. — 
What matters it whether they know A from B, so long as they have 
dollars enough — this is very unsound and insane logic. So long as 
they are brought up in vulgar aristocratic pride — so long as they are 
wrapped in robes of purple and fine linen, straight-collared shirts, hung 
with jewels and precious stones, and Avear their hoops a la balloon, 
trundling them in grandeur through the streets, disdaining every hon- 
est man, and Avise in self-conceit, filled to the very brim Avith impu- 
dence and ignorance, cursing their parents, mocking God, patronizing 
the theatres, dram-shops, dance-houses, AvigAvams of ill-fame, and gam- 
bling-houses, Avhere the Avicked cease not from trouble, and the Aveary 
. are never at rest. What matters it? I Avill tell you : God Avill hold 
you accountable for their evil Avays. " Train up a child in the Avay he 
should go, and Avhen he is old he Avill not depart fi om it." I knoAV 
this to be a candid fact, and if called by my Maker as a Avitness to this, 
I would heartily respond in favor of the Divine truth. 

The Avell educated colored man is feared by the Avhite — the monied 
colored man is respected by him — both self-evident facts. 

To the monied colored man Avithout sense, says brother White, Jend 
to-day, I'll pay to-morroAV. O, si senor, take it, I'm not in need of 
this, (just Avhen he most needs it) pay me Avhen you please. Yes, and 
the Avhite man takes him at his Avord, don't he ? Noav I ask you to 
ansAver me candidly for once. 

But let us see the other phase of the moon. Hoav dees friend W. 
& Co. get along Avith Mr. B., the lettered man. 



49 

Why, he attempts none of his Jacobs', the Wizzard's moves ; with 
Mr. intelligent B., Mr. W. finds his Hie, Hoc, Presto, change and be- 
gone, as ineffectual as has been his attempts to bring the dead to life. 
In this case he don't say to brother B., I'll keep your money and your 
property safer than you can yourself. No. 2 is first. Here brother 
W. cannot blind his dark brother with his false signature to a note of 
sixty days ; because with the latter, one day with him is as a thousand 
years to brother White ; or more plainly, by the Rule of Three, as the 
$1,000 that brother White asked me for to-day, is to my will to lend 
it to him, so is a thousand years to niy answer. This is the rule that 
the Chinamen work by in their own country, when a white man wants 
to borrow money from them. Hence they are wiser than we who call 
them Pagans. 

What do you think of China, with a population of 200,000,000 
souls, one quarter of the whole number of souls on this earth r I will 
guarantee that every ten in twelve of this vast multitude can read and 
write. And here we are a population of 4,000 ; but how many of us 
can read and write ? About one to every dozen; and to every 4,000 
of us, not one single scHor.Au! This is a pretty conclusion, but it is 
nevertheless true. 

But you may say we are excusable — Ave liave not had the opportu- 
nity to learn. This may be true ; but have, and had, are two different 
things : you know that I am not after /tad now — I wish to get at have. 
Hiive you, now ? — that is the question, and answer it ! Your Maker 
awaits your rei)ly. 

And moreover, to those who have had an opportunity to get know- 
ledge — those who we-e born free, I say if you do not know anything, 
whose fault is it r And I say, also, that you had better begin and 
mend the fault before it comes to be a gross error. 

You that have not had the opportunities to be great, and good, and 
wise, make not a stumbling block of hate. I warn ycni, for you know 
not the day nor the hour He comes for His talent, as a " thief in the 
iiight." 

And finally, I say, " 'Tis better late than never." Let us all get 
knowledge ; and may the time come, in this State, when we shall have 
our Reasons, our Smiths, our Delaneys, and our Douglasses — men who 
shall be an honor to their kind, in this, the Western World. 

O, with what pride we are able to answer the CjUestion : Who is one 
of the greatest among the many literary scholars of this age of wisdom ? 
Prof. Charles L. Reason. 

Who is one of the greatest among the thousands of the Medical fra- 
ternity, either in Europe or this country ': Dr. James McCune Smith. 

Who is he that is said to be one of the ablest orators of modern 
times ? Frederick Douglass. 

What colored Divine has won a world's renown by the clearness of 
his arguments, and the earnestness and zeal of his gospel pleadings ? 
Is it not Samuel R. Ward. 

And I might hunt up a host of just sueh persevering and gradually 
rising studious disciples of the cause of humanity, whose fame shall be 



50 

trumpet-tongued, wlien you and I, dear reader, are laid in mother 
earth. God speed their journej', and. Justice their cause. May we 
have ten thousand just such men as Douglass, that when we ask where 
did you get your knowledge ? In the cotton field, in the sugar patch, 
ill bondage — where 1 could, and how I could. Now gentle reader, 
learn by their example while you can, and while yon may. 

During the ten years that I was under the careful tuition of Prof. 
Ueason, I never Knew him to lose a moments time. 'NVith his book in 
one hand and his biscuit in the other, the hour of noon was scrupu- 
lously spent by him drinking in the vast amount of knowledge that his 
capacious mind now contains. Look at that man and see what perse- 
verance can do. 

When I was a child, learning to make the letters ol the alphabet in 
what was called the sand class, Charles L. Reason, now a pride to the 
best of names gracing the literary world ; Henry Garnet, who ranks 
among the most celebrated orators of the time in which we live, and 
nine or ten others whose names are now associated with those of the 
greatest men in the various departments of science, were, at the time I 
refer to, studying the elements of Literature, Art, and Science, in the 
same public school with myself. 

William H. Day, now Editor of the Aliened American^ my class- 
mate and bosom friend, has, by his great industry and perseverance, 
risen to a state of great importance, and is an example of youthful 
talent. These men have shown to the world that the American saying, 
" A Negro is a brute," is as -^alse as the Nation that says so is unjust 
to themselves, to us, and to the world at large. 

These men are an honor to their race, a terror to the whites, a living 
refutation to the foul lie, we are not men ! 

Hence, my friends, read their history ; watch their deeds ; be warned 
by them : and as they say to you, get wisdom, do so. Yes, get wis- 
dom, it causes the tyrant to fear — get education, it promotes. 

But the other day, and we saw the palpable proof of the value of 
education ; we have seen the fallacious reasoning of our fellow coun- 
trymen whites set at nought in regard to our educational capacity ; we 
have seen that while our own country does not consider us Avorth 
weighing in her just balance, France ! France, the mighty France ! 
second to none that has a name in history — second to none in power, 
wealth, and wisdom, has stamped upon our race the proof that we arc 
men ! That talents and real worth are the necessaries to equalit}- , and 
not the color of the skin ; and she maintains it ! 

Yes, and we have seen the youth of dark Egyptian dye ; he, who 
comparatively speaking, had not wherewithal to buy his bread — poor in 
this world's goods — one of the despised among Afric's burdened sons, 
raised to a position for which a Noble, oft has bowed in homage to his 
King that he might attain. 

" I am black, but comely." Yea, saith France, thou art a Negro, 
but a wise man ; hence, wisdom is riches — knowledge, power ! Oh 
then, be invited to seek wisdom ; it is better than fine gold. I say 
again get it — get understanding — bow down before its fount, and drink 
deeply from its running stream. 



51 



ODE. 



1. TIt" lion o'er his wild domain, 
Rulos with the torror of liis eye; 
The eaalo of liis vock maintains 

By force the einiiire of tlie sky : 
The shark, the tyrant of the flood. 
Reigns through the deep ■with quencbletfe 
[rage ; 
Parent and young, unweanod from blood. 
Are still the same from age to age. 

L'. Of all that live, and move, and breathe. 

Man only rises o'er his birth ; 
He looks above, around, beneatli. 

At once the heir of heaven and earth : 
Kiiree. speed, cunning, which nature gave 

The various tribes tliroughont her plan, 
Life tv. enjoy, from death to save. — 

Tlicso are the lowest powers of man. 

3. From strength to strength he travels on : 
Ife leaves the lingering brute behind ; 
And when a few ishort years are gone, 
lie soares a disembodied mind ; 



Beyond the grave his course sublime, 
tiestined through nobh'r paths to run. 

In his cancer the end of time 
Is but eternity begun. 

. What guides him in his high pursuit, 

Opens, illumines, cheers ais way, 
Discerns the immortal from the brute. 

Ood's image from the mould of Clay? 
'Tis knowledge; knowledge to the soul 

Ts power, and liberty and jieace ; 
.\nd while celestial ages roll. 

The joys of knowledge shall increase. 

. Hail to the glorious plan that spread 

The light with iiniversal beams. 
And through the human desert led 

Truth's living, piiro, perpetual streams, 
lielinld a new creation rise, 

New spirit breathed into the clod, 
VVhiM-e'er the voice of wisdom cries, 

" Man, know thyself, and fear thy God." 



EKRATA. 

On 9th page, llith line for" Cunimitlce,' read "con/mission.'' 

On the 15th page, 18th line for " fear.* the devil," read " loves God, fears the 
devil," etc. 

On loth page, 56th line, right hand colunui, for ''rete Cole's speculation," read 
" hatu Coles speculation." 

15th page, 12th line for "seven mighty men," road " three mighty men," etc. 




I Thf !)uyiQo- .jw-*""S' finfi 11^2 i>'"'"'arcliii': of Goods of nil ilesciiption to 
,itji^-i'5i5've Ports. 

,'.3iiae(Jiiitely disohargrinj; his agreements, 
i-'argo & Co.'s Express, with the commission fee, (10 per cent) enclosefi 

ITEXi AWg>Si<;£i."<-«>;"«';<al g'toara Scouring J^-atahlishmRiit, No. 71 Merchant street, (be 
M. tw-osn 3X6ntgoiii-.n-j- and .Sansomc;,) San Franci.?co. Ciotliing Clennt-.i and H.-paired. A liberal 
linoe paid for tienfrtju,;ir.s Cist-olf Olothiug-. 

FfiOW^lHffi. •R^ee'.'T A-WT?> nwOfS JgirSlPOiSllLfi?! Lester nud (iibbs. Importers 
aitu Di::!; . . r-e aud Viiried Stock by every Ktcaui'jr, and by 
Clipper fcUL:> -1 iiiilte.l Ik.ttoUi IS.nts; Doublo-soleu Boots; Light 
firess Eont- : dry llouis; Scandinavian Boots; Patent Leather 

, TV stylo ;in.l description, warranted to 
- : . d Irom the ino.st celelirated manufacturers 
•jir.'Srdy ''.f us. Tiie ladie.s may therefore 
^;'''. '': ■' ■ arid durability. They will 

^'.I'i*^' ■; a Franca; i; iloroeco Boots, 

^'■'■^l' ' ' . . in a v.-iird, everything in 

Tiiis ;ii: , ,, :,, : ■l.ivHest 'Hi.-r;,-,, ,,r>n'.u: .:;. 

-^^■ s. 184 Otay srri-f.VvC^jrrt P.. r': . :. ^,-„- srearny, S. P. 



Mi^'l'IO H—To the i'ri(.ii;b o;: Uie O-Morod Man.— Th'.i siTb.=;(. 
Ciint;iini7ig all tiicJwo.'if. tiseful worlc;; in Sfieuce andArt — ai 
s'iruiiiL'nt;-!y.'-;i(.-ir a; a r:!o':.\ Charts, cic. \viii most- tiiaiiklidlv !'■' 
<Voi'X any pr-r-^i'ii; wlu ii' , , ■ , , i., , 

liaes nridresHi 1 ,. i V. . : 



1 estaliliriii a Library, 

Jc'.v ^Vstronoinical in- 

lir'i <. ;.;.ii!jugli old, 

,:. A few 



J-V^. opened the iiliove-nanied .llonsc, sitnatcti on 
iort for per.'ons going cait uf town. El)~ v.'. RV) C.\ ' 



lT inJlAS ii' '<ui X 1% "u '?i i'X, Leaier i:i Mes^r.^. "\\ y 
t\oet, tliree doov.H norfii of Jackson .street, San Fian 



:^hand cK^thia; 
. Proprietors. 



\Vi;il(-;iIja Gw> 
i']iiiin,y^ fi'oiii 1: 



■ ai; 1-rancjseo. — 

ale vcrv clieap. 

liin.u'ht, fold, ami 



.1. 20:1 JCeariiy 

■Iter the largest 

.. comprising all 

Tf.d Shirts — Isre- 

lo 20 around the 



vVW ' ■■ 



■■v/y of , 
1 ic^j Oltl 



..L'l; 111,' ^,ii-v>'-ii:i'iii 

. ther in tiie State 

liavp !i lare:e ;ind 



vcevci-;,- altj-ntirm. (l-i 
itilaTcd roi.i'iix iartaidc :■ 



oci^co.— VV. P. I\lr.si.!., Prop.-I.'ior.— 
lisliment, whice i,s niib'urpassvdfor 
■ mid rei^pectftilly .solicit t.'io nalron- 
;i-ant, fnrni.shed with ;'II the luxn- 
me parlors v.hore F.-iinilii;-: niav re- 
with a fine Billiard .Saloon. Well 
! I.odpirig. per wcvk. ,$8 ; Board per 



TI3E Ei'jasia a»KESSisp.i!'i: : : . 
ci.sco. ^'crmi! — per annum, in advance, .^io; jor ■ 
niciitions — AV<^ solicit froiu'our friends throngiioiit tl; 
est t" :niy portinii of the l.'eoplc. Adverl ;;."ii.'nts— A 
I'd i[i<iur '■."•l-;^ii!i : ;ir lair rates of !■■ 



if 142 Cl.ay street. San fran- 
le copies 12 cents. Commu- 
■us !}» all Siibjocts of iutei-- 
■\iM-tiKenients will be insert- 



ri'^AM'E Nv.'O'VlS'VS.—JAit r.il cue >vo\-id See ;ind iip.ar I i — 'I'iiose iie.autiful new style Crav.ats ; 
JL also, a lot of Ki!;)!>rfino Assorted Cohirs ; Bladrassdlanilkercliiefs ; 20 do/.eu of those extra superior 
Neck-Ties fin' 1v'-'roii Shirks; 90 doaen of all Linen Uandkerchiefs— large sizes, witli fancy borders, for 
t;o per iT" ' ' ' : ." J lose, running from 9to 111-2 inclies : also, by the arrival of the Golden Age, a 
Jini'loi !: ;ind Satin Scarfs .and Crav.ats. Is receiving by every steamer tho.se Madrass 

][and],> Mill 1)6 able to supply the wants of the Ladies. Tlieve has ))een a great rush for 

tliose ti.i" . i:i';r:'.~:i iiandkerchiefs! Shivl ". , • :" . 20:J Kearny street, three door.s north of Jackson 



street, San l''ra-.icisco. 'VVestudy tople:;-; 



XATUAX POINTii;U. 



£^TEAM &i€5<lS)UiaErVCr and Clotir^s uniovating Bstabli.shnient, No. 105 Merchant street, San 
^5 Kranciscn. ' ()h>ase, tar. pitch, &c., extracted without injury to the cloth. Coats, Pantaloons and 
Tests. dis!ic;ured if/ n-:e, or faded in color, restored and made to appear as now. All kinds of Tailoring 
and ]l.';i: ■ ■ ' ''•■ done ^^■ith punctuality and despatch, by SATCHELL .IfcFjiKREL. Ocntlcmen's 

C;-i<t-o',' 'A. Orders in itny part of the City attended to. 



LIBRAI 



01J 



HoUii 

P 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 653 694 2 



HolUnger Corp. 
pHa5 



